KETCHES 


BROAD 


WITH 


PEN  AND  PENCIL. 


FELIX    O.    C.    DARLEY. 


Tli e  Drawings  engraved  on    Wood  by   y.  Augustus  Bogert  and 
L.  Langridge. 


N  E  VV    YORK: 

PUBLISHED    BY    HURD    AND    HOUGHTON. 
C  n  m  t)  r  1 1>  3  c :  3£  f  b  e  v  s  I  tJ  e  3.3  v  c  s  s  . 

1869. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1868,  by 

HURD   AND    HOUGHTON, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District  oi 
New  York. 


RIVERSIDE,    CAMBRIDGE: 

STEREOTYPED     AND     PRINTED     BY 
H.    O.    HOUGHTON    AND   COMPANY. 


A  WORD    TO    THE    READER. 


I  WOULD  say  to  the  gentle  reader  that  the 
contents  of  this  rather  consumptive  little  vol 
ume  were  not  intended,  originally,  for  the  public 
eye,  but  for  the  eye  domestic ;  being  extracts 
from  familiar  letters  written  from  abroad  to  my 
family  at  home,  and  for  their  especial  pleasure 
and  benefit.  At  the  suggestion  of  a  friend, 
I  was  induced  to  put  them  into  type  and  use 
them  as  a  thread  whereon  to  hang  the  illustra 
tions,  the  originals  of  which  were,  for  the  most 
part,  drawn  from  railroad  cars,  the  coupe  of  a 
diligence,  the  back  of  a  mule,  or  from  the  deck 
of  a  steamer.  The  reader  will  take  them  for 
what  they  are  worth. 

I  have  but  skimmed  the  surface  of  things  —  it 
may  be  too  lightly  things  heavy  and  too  heavily 
things  light ;  but  I  take  it  for  granted  that  all 

272570 


IV  A    WORD    TO    THE  READER. 

I  have  touched  upon  is  familiar  to  my  country 
men,  —  they  being  a  remarkably  travelling  peo 
ple,  who  are  to  be  found,  at  all  seasons  and  hours, 
in  every  corner  of  the  habitable  globe,  with  a 
laudable  desire  to  know  everything,  and  with 
that  penetrative  insight  into  "facts "  which  dis 
tinguished  the  ingenious  Mr.  Gradgrind. 

I  have  avoided  Murray  and  his  details  ;  said 
nothing  of  the  population  of  any  village,  town, 
or  city  I  have  visited,  nor  measured  the  width, 
height,  or  length  of  their  public  buildings ;  neither 
have  I  made  any  remarks  upon  the  political  or 
social  condition  of  Europe,  knowing  these  things 
to  be  done  daily,  by  far  abler  pens  than  mine. 

I  have  sketched  only  and  finished  nothing,  and 
trust  that  amiable  body  known  as  the  "  Public," 
will  look  upon  my  short-comings,  in  this  ex 
tremely  mild  literary  effort,  with  an  indulgent  eye. 

September,  1868.  D. 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


1.  ENGLISH  SOLDIERS  PLAYING  CARDS.  PAGE 

2.  A  CUSTOM-HOUSE  OFFICER  ON  DUTY  .                         .        .  viii 

3.  THE  DEPARTURE i 

4.  THE  ABBE 3 

5.  A  PICTURE  OF  PATIENT  SUFFERING 5 

6.  OLD  HOUSES  IN  CHESTER 6 

7.  PHCENIX  TOWER 7 

8.  THE  WAY  IN  WHICH  WE  SAW  ENGLAND    .  9 

9.  THE  TOMB  OF  A  CRUSADER .14 

10.  THE  BLOCK  AND  AXE  IN  THE  TOWER        .  19 

n.  EFFIGY  OF  HENRY  IV.  IN  THE  TOWER 20 

12.  ENGLISH  POLICEMAN  ON  DUTY 21 

13.  STREET  MINSTRELS  IN  LONDON 26 

14.  ANNE  HATHAWAY'S  COTTAGE 28 

15.  ALL   THAT    REMAINS   OF    KENILWORTH    ABBEY            ...  30 

16.  ARMOR  IN  WARWICK  CASTLE 31 

17.  "DEAR  SIR  JOHN" 37 

18.  FONT  IN  THE  CHAPEL  AT  HADDON  HALL  ....  38 

19.  NORMAN  STAIRCASE 41 

20.  TOMB  OF  THE  BffACK  PRINCE  IN  CANTERBURY  CATHEDRAL  42 

21.  GENDARME 43 

22.  ENCOUNTER  WITH  MINUTE  FOREIGNER       ....  46 


VI  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

23.  MOUNTED  GENDARME 47 

24.  BONNIVARD 50 

25.  WAYSIDE  CROSS 51 

26.  "HAIR-ERECTING  PROCESS"          .                        ...  52 

27.  Swiss  PEASANT 54 

28.  TAKING  LEAVE  OF  MY  "APPLE  ON  FOUR  STICKS"    .        .  55 

29.  "  DOING  "  THE  ALPS 56' 

30.  Swiss  CHALET 58 

31.  Swiss  PEASANT 59 

32.  A  GOAT  IN  THE  VISP  VALLEY     ...  60 

33.  PRIEST  IN  THE  CATHEDRAL  AT  MUNICH         ....  63 

34.  PEASANT  IN  THE  CHAPEL 64 

35.  SKETCH  FROM  A  WINDOW  OF  THE  HOTEL     ....  67 

36.  NEAR  RAGATZ 68 

37.  JUNGFRAU    AND   EXECUTIONER 69 

38.  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL 70 

39.  PEASANTS  "  IN  THEIR  VERY  PECULIAR  BEST  "         ...  70 

40.  TOWERS  OF  THE  WALL  OF  NUREMBERG      ....  72 

41.  FIGURE  OF  THE  MADONNA  ON  THE  PUBLIC  FOUNTAIN         .  73 

42.  MARKET  WOMEN  AT  HEIDELBERG 76 

43.  A  NURSE  AT  BADEN-BADEN 79 

44.  DUTCH  FISHERMEN 80 

45.  "  PUTTING  IN  THE  FINER  TOUCHES  " 83 

46.  STATUE  OF  RUBENS 84 

47.  JOLLY  DUTCHMAN 85 

48.  THE  ARTIST  WITHOUT  HANDS 87 

49.  A  WOMAN  OF  ANTWERP 88 

50.  MARKET  WOMEN  OF  ANTWERP 88 

51.  FISH  WOMEN  AT  THE  HAGUE          .        .        .        .        .        .92 

52.  MY  IMAGINARY  NURSE 93 

53.  BULWER 98 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS.  Vll 

PAGE 

54.  A  SHEPHERD 102 

55.  IN  THE  STREET  AT  NICE 103 

56.  ENTERING  A  TOWN  ON  THE  CORNICHE  ROAD    ...  105 

57.  ON  THE  CORNICHE  ROAD 108 

58.  A  FRIAR 109 

59.  STRUGGLING  FOR  A  DIP 113 

60.  ITALIAN  PEASANT 114 

61.  THE  "DOUBLE  BEGGAR" 119 

62.  PRIEST  AND  BEGGAR 124 

63.  BOY  WITH  CENSER 129 

64.  A  LAZY  NEAPOLITAN 130 

65.  ON  THE  MOLO  AT  NAPLES 130 

66.  "PATHETIC  STRAINS" 131 

67.  TRAINED  DOGS 132 

68.  A  SCENE  IN  FRONT  OF  THE  HOTEL 132 

69.  SKULL  OF  THE  FAITHFUL  SOLDIER 135 

70.  ITALIAN  SHEPHERD 137 

71.  TURNIP  BOY 141 

72.  CAPUCHIN 142 

73.  A  RISING  MAN 149 

74.  HUNTER  ON  HORSEBACK .151 

75.  A  WAYSIDE  SHRINE 152 

76.  MODELS  AT  ROME 153 

77.  AT  THE  FOUNTAIN 154 

78.  BEPPO 160 

79.  "  THE  GENTLEMAN  ON  THE  WALL  " 161 

80.  GUARDING  THE  FLOCK 166 

81.  GULIANO  DE  MEDICI 167 

82.  DEVOTION 173 

83.  GONDOLA 174 

84.  A  CANAL  IN  VENICE 176 


Vlll 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


85.  VENETIAN  WATER  CARRIER    . 

86.  MELANCHOLY  WAITER  . 

87.  PEASANTS  GOING  TO  THEIR  WORK  . 

88.  FAREWELL 


PAGE 

.    182 

184 

.     186 
192 


SKETCHES    ABROAD. 


STEAMSHIP  "  CUBA," 
June  8,   1 8  6-. 

ERE  we  are  at  sea, 
on  board  the  good 
ship  Cuba,  weather 
fine,  and  the  sea, 
unlike  many  of  our 
passengers,  in  a 
lively  condition,  the 
white  caps  dancing 
about  in  a  jolly 
manner.  Our  fel 
low  voyagers  ex 
hibit  a  variety  of 

expression ;  some,  expectant  of  that  awful  mo 
ment  when  the  inner  man  rebels  against  the  con 
stant  rising  and  falling  of  the  deck,  have  thrown 
themselves  down  upon  it,  and  are  forcing  a  feeble 
smile  to  convince  you  that  they  are  "  quite  com 
fortable."  Some,  pale  and  limp,  are  reclining 


2  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

with  their  heads  on  the  shoulders  of  sympathiz 
ing  friends,  while  others  stagger  to  the  guards, 
over  which  they  hang  in  a  collapsed  condition, 
and  many  who  are  "  never  sick,"  walk  the  deck 
with  determined  stride,  confident  and  cheerful. 
One  poor,  old  gentleman,  an  invalid,  lies  out 
stretched  in  his  sea-chair,  wrapped  in  a  large 
plaid  shawl,  with  his  felt  hat  tied  under  his  chin 
leaving  his  nose  alone  visible,  a  forlorn  picture  of 
patient  suffering.  The  captain,  majestic  and  re 
served,  is  seen  upon  the  bridge  with  the  glass  at 
his  eye,  scanning  a  distant  sail,  while  the  boat 
swain  pipes  his  shrill  call  to  the  hands  to  "  Lay 
aft."  By  the  smoke-stack  is  gathered  a  group  of 
gentlemen  warming  their  backs  and  puffing  the 
fragrant  weed.  Suddenly  the  ship  rolls,  and  one 
individual  with  red  whiskers  and  an  excess  of 
nose,  who  has  been  reading  a  newspaper,  turns 
over  unexpectedly  upon  his  back,  slides  quite 
across  the  deck,  —  stool  and  all,  —  accompanied 
by  two  ladies.  The  bell  rings  for  dinner,  and  all 
who  can,  dive  instantly  into  the  cabin  to  attend  to 
the  most  important  business  of  the  day.  Five 
times  during  the  twenty-four  hours,  do  we  go 
through  this  interesting  process,  ending  at  night 
with  the  delectable  composition  known  as  "Welsh- 
rare-bit,"  with  something  hot.  After  each  meal  we 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 


return  to  the  deck,  lounge  upon  the  stern  railing, 
and  amuse  ourselves  watching  the  gulls,  as,  with 
their  wild  cry,  they  follow  in  our  wake  and  dip  to 
the  surface  of  the  sea  to  pick  up  the  debris  of  our 
feast,  which  has  been  thrown  overboard. 

Among  our  fellow-passengers  we  have  some 
strange  contrasts  of  character.  There  are  two 
Frenchmen  of  the  navy,  a  purser  and  his  dear 
friend,  a  lieutenant,  whom  he  occasionally  em 
braces,  --a  rattling,  giggling,  wriggling  little 
fellow,  who  chirps  and 
sings  snatches  of 
French  songs,  all  day. 
Then  there  is  a  French 
abbe,  cheerful,  good-na 
tured,  and  blundering 
in  his  English,  which  he 
tries  hard,  but  vainly,  to 
acquire.  Then  a  gen 
tleman  who  has  served 
as  a  volunteer  through 

the  Rebellion  —  a  most  earnest  patriot,  whose 
hatred  of  traitors,  and  intense  energy  when  giv 
ing  expression  to  his  sentiments,  are  beyond  my 
powers  to  convey.  He  is  a  wiry,  nervous  man, 
with  rigid  vertebrae  and  a  hooked  nose,  and  illus 
trates,  with  fiery  action,  his  experience  during  the 


• 


4  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

war;  frequently  bringing  his  iron  fist  much  too 
near  your  nose  ;  making  you  wink  and  dodge, 
while  you  venerate  his  patriotism.  There  is  an 
other  worthy  man,  of  an  entirely  different  stamp, 
from  the  far  West  —  a  tall,  lank  clergyman,  of  an 
inquiring  mind,  with  a  small,  penetrating,  blue 
eye,  whose  glance  enters  your  brain  like  a  gimlet, 
while  he  button-holes  you  in  the  corner  by  the 
smoke-stack.  His  stomach  is  unfortunately  weak, 
and  he  is,  consequently,  always  retiring  to  his 
berth,  but  is  sure  to  turn  up  again,  a  little  faded 
in  his  complexion,  with  the  remark  that  he  "  feels 
better."  We  have  also  a  rebel,  —  a  lively,  amiable 

rebel,  who  swears  he  is  the  "  d dst  rebel  in  all 

the  South,"  —  but  we  dont  believe  it,  for  the 
pleasant  twinkle  in  his  eye  contradicts  it.  At  the 
bow,  daily  appears  a  group  of  English  soldiers,  in 
their  red  jackets  and  knowing  little  caps,  loung 
ing  on  the  railing  or  lying  on  the  deck  playing 
cards. 

This  life  at  sea  is  certainly  very  monotonous  ; 
it  drags  ;  all  days  are  the  same  with  us,  and  we 
find  it  difficult  to  kill  time.  A  floating  spar  or 
plank  passes,  and  in  a  moment  becomes  a  subject 
of  intense  interest ;  every  one  rushes  to  the  side 
of  the  vessel  to  gaze  upon  it,  and  the  mind  in 
stantly  gives  it  a  history:  it  may  be  all  that  re- 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  5 

mains  of  a  wreck  upon  the  mighty  ocean,  and 
could,  perhaps,  "  a  melancholy  tale  unfold  "  of  the 
"desolate  rainy  seas."  Sometimes  a  whale  comes 
in  sight,  its  vast  body  rolling  along  and  shining 
like  an  immense  bottle,  while  it  blows  and  sinks, 
again  to  rise,  till  lost  in  the  fog  that  hangs  upon 
the  horizon.  This  morning  we  passed  an  ice 
berg,  a  glittering  and  dangerous  beauty,  which,  if 
encountered,  proves,  like  many  other  beauties, 
cold  and  unyielding  ! 

It  is  about  time  now  for  "  something  hot,"  so 
good-night.  I  shall  send  this  letter  from  Queens- 
town. 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


CHESTER,  June  19. 
S  Liverpool  is  sim 
ply  a  commercial 
city,  it  was  not  par 
ticularly  interest 
ing  to  us,  and  we 
came  on  to  Chester 
at  once.  This  town 
is  the  oldest  in 
England,  having 
been  settled  by  the 
Romans ;  and  frag 
ments  of  Roman  buildings,  monuments,  and 
coins,  are  being  constantly  discovered. 

Soon  after  we  arrived,  we  went  to  the  Cathe 
dral,  built  in  the  tenth  century  !  "  Think  of  it ! 
dream  of  it !  "  As  it  was  Sunday,  we  entered  to 
enjoy  the  service,  and  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing 
the  Rev.  Hugh  McNeil,  one  of  the  celebrated 
preachers  of  England.  The  effect  to  me  was  like 
a  dream ;  none  of  us  could  realize  it ;  and  the 
grand  and  imposing  music,  taken  in  connection 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 


with  the  antiquity  of  the  place,  produced  a  most 
singular  effect  upon 

the  mind  :  the  mod- 

,  T 
ern    costume,     the 

dress-coats  and  bon 
nets  by  which  we 
were  surrounded, 
seemed  entirely  out 
of  place  in  this 
time-honored  build 
ing.  After  the  con 
gregation  left,  the 
verger  —  of  course 
for  a  considera 
tion  —  showed  us 
through  the  noble 
cathedral,  pointing 
out  its  various  ob 
jects  of  interest.  In 
the  crypt,  we  groped  about  among  vaults  and 
pits,  looking  to  each  other,  in  the  "  dim  relig 
ious  light,"  like  so  many  ghosts.  We  afterwards 
passed  through  the  cloisters,  then  out  into  the 
sunlight,  where  the  monks  lie  buried.  I  gathered 
some  leaves  from  the  rich  masses  of  ivy  which 
almost  cover  the  venerable  walls.  In  the  after 
noon,  we  walked  on  the  old  wall  which  surrounds 


8  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

the  city,  and  came  to  one  of  the  towers,  from  the 
top  of  which  Charles  I.  is  said  to  have  witnessed 
the  defeat  of  his  army  by  Cromwell,  at  the  battle 
of  Rowton  Moor.  I  made  a  sketch  of  it,  also 
of  another,  covered  with  ivy  and  as  beautiful  as 
possible,  with  the  River  Dee  in  the  distance,  and 
the  mountains  of  Wales  beyond. 

The  whole  place  is  exceedingly  interesting  to 
us ;  the  old  houses  are  so  singular,  with  their 
overhanging  gables  and  carved  fronts  —  so  old, 
and  yet  so  new  to  us.  In  one  street,  we  passed 
through  a  sort  of  arcade  formed  by  the  second 
stories  of  the  houses  projecting  over  the  side 
walk  ;  here  were  the  principal  shops.  During 
the  great  plague,  one  house  only  escaped  its  rav 
ages  ;  it  is  still  standing,  and  bears  the  inscription 
"  God's  Providence  is  mine  Inheritance." 

On  the  next  day,  we  visited  Eton  Hall,  the  seat 
of  the  Marquis  of  Westminster,  the  most  magnif 
icent  place,  it  is  said,  in  England.  As  we  drove 
for  three  miles,  through  the  grounds  to  this  splen 
did  residence,  we  saw  the  deer  under  the  wide- 
spreading  oaks,  while  the  pheasants  and  rabbits 
in  the  grass  were  as  tame  as  hens.  I  can  give 
you  no  idea  of  the  splendor  of  the  place  :  we 
entered  first  the  hall,  which  is  about  fifty  feet 
square,  and  around  which  are  placed  in  niches, 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  9 

suits  of  armor ;  one  of  a  crusader  in  chain-mail, 
the  rest  in  plate  armor.  In  the  dining-room  and 
library,  are  some  pictures  by  Rubens,  and  several 
family  portraits  by  Reynolds,  West,  Hopner,  and 
Gainsborough  —  those  by  the  last  two  are  cap 
ital. 


10  SKETCHES  ABROAD 


TINTERN,   June  22. 

/^\N  Tuesday,  we  left  Chester  for  Caernarvon, 
and  stopped  for  an  hour  or  two  at  Conway 
to  see  the  castle,  built,  as  you  know,  by  Edward 
I. :  a  most  magnificent  ruin  on  the  banks  of  the 
River  Conway.  One  of  the  railroad  men  acted  as 
our  guide,  and  we  ascended  one  of  the  towers, 
from  the  top  of  which  we  enjoyed  an  exquisite 
view  of  the  surrounding  country.  We  then  re 
turned  to  the  tower  and  visited  an  old  mansion 
which  was  built  by  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  and 
where  he  often  entertained  Queen  Elizabeth  —  a 
curious  old  place.  In  the  banqueting-room  the 
letters  E.  and  R.  D. -- Elizabeth  and  Robert 
Dudley  —  are  seen  above  the  mantel-piece,  on  the 
oak  panels  around  the  room,  and  on  the  ceiling. 

After  lunching  at  the  "  Erskine  Arms,"  we  re 
turned  to  the  railway  station,  and  proceeded  to 
Caernarvon.  We  secured  rooms  at  the  hotel,  and 
then  hurried  to  the  castle.  This  ruin  is  still  finer 
than  the  last,  being  much  more  grand  and  exten 
sive.  We  explored  every  part  of  it,  went  up 
winding  stairs  quite  hollowed  out,  perhaps  by 


WITH  PEN-  AND  PENCIL.  1 1 

mail-clad  feet  of  former  centuries.  As  we  as 
cended,  passing  through  dilapidated  passages  and 
ruined  chambers, -- wherein  the  fire-places  are 
still  visible,  —  the  startled  rooks  flew,  screaming, 
from  their  nests  ;  we  were  quite  wild  with  delight. 
We  passed  the  night  at  the  "  Royal  George,"  and 
a  charming  old  place  it  is,  clean  and  cosy,  like  all 
English  country  inns. 

In  the  morning,  we  mounted  to  the  top  of  a 
stage-coach,  fondly  anticipating  a  delightful  drive, 
as  we  had  been  told  that  the  scenery  is  magnifi 
cent  in  this  part  of  Wales :  but,  alas  !  the  sun,  after 
struggling  with  the  mist  for  some  time,  finally 
retired  from  the  contest,  the  mist  changed  into  a 
rain,  which  completely  hid  the  landscape  from  us, 
and  we  were  very  glad,  at  Corwen,  to  enter  a  rail 
way-carriage,  in  which  we  went  rapidly  to  Shrews 
bury,  where  we  passed  the  night. 

On  Thursday,  we  took  the  cars  to  Hereford, 
and  went  immediately  to  the  cathedral,  which  is 
truly  magnificent.  The  verger  was  officious,  as 
usual,  showing  us  tombs  of  the  twelfth,  four 
teenth,  and  fifteenth  centuries,  with  knights  and 
bishops  on  their  backs,  the  latter  with  their 
mitres  and  crosiers,  while  the  knights  were  in  full 
armor  —  the  crusader  in  his  shirt  of  mail  and 
with  crossed  legs.  One  tomb  of  the  time  of 


12  SKETCHES   ABROAD 

Elizabeth,  with  the  figures  colored,  has  a  very 
strange  effect ;  all  of  these  were  more  or  less 
broken  by  Cromwell's  soldiery.  I  sat  upon  a 
chair  which  had  once  been  occupied  by  King 
Stephen,  and  we  were  shown  a  book  written  by  a 
monk  a  thousand  years  ago ;  a  crosier  taken  from 
the  coffin  of  a  bishop  of  the  eleventh  century, 
which  was  opened  in  1861,  when  the  body  was 
found  enclosed  in  lead,  and  perfect ;  Wickliffe's 
Bible,  the  first  translation  ever  made,  and  the  first 
map  of  the  world,  a  very  curious  and  amusing 
production.  This  is  a  small  portion  of  what  we 
saw,  but  I  should  weary  you  as  well  as  myself,  if 
I  attempted  to  tell  all. 

From  Hereford  to  Ross  by  rail,  and  there  we 
hired  a  wagon  and  drove  twenty-two  miles  through 
the  most  exquisite  country  you  can  imagine,  to  the 
"  Beaufort  Arms  "  at  Tintern.  I  can  see  the  Ab 
bey  from  the  windows  of  this  room,  —  it  is  not  a 
hundred  yards  from  me,  —  and  the  stars  are  glit 
tering  through  its  lovely  ruins  as  I  write.  While 
they  were  preparing  tea  for  us,  we  walked  over 
to  look  at  the  remains  of  this  once  magnificent 
building,  of  which  nothing  is  left  but  the  walls 
covered  with  clustering  ivy,  where  the  rooks  build 
by  hundreds,  making  an  incessant  cawing.  Near 
the  refectory,  partially  concealed  by  the  grass,  are 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  I  3 

some  time-stained  slabs  covering  the  dust  of 
monks.  What  must  not  this  fine  old  monastery 
have  been  in  its  days  of  splendor  and  power  ?  It 
is  a  poem  in  stone,  and  a  most  noble  one.  The 
scenery  about  it  is  lovely, — only  a  few  quaint 
cottages  are  near.  This  exquisite  ruin,  the  dis 
tant  hills,  the  river  winding  through  the  quiet 
valley,  the  entire  landscape  warmed  by  the  rays 
of  the  setting  sun,  formed  altogether  a  scene  I 
shall  not  easily  forget. 

England  is  particularly  interesting  for  its  his 
torical  associations  and  the  rare  beauty  of  its 
scenery.  The  cottages  are  charming,  and  the 
inns  are  as  comfortable  as  possible,  often  sur 
rounded  by  neatly  kept  gardens  full  of  bright 
blossoms  and  shrubbery.  The  "  Beaufort  Arms," 
where  we  now  are,  is  the  most  picturesque  one 
that  we  have  seen  ;  of  stone,  with  its  latticed  win 
dows  half  covered  with  flowering  vines,  and  the 
porch  one  mass  of  luxuriant  ivy.  I  shall  always 
advise  friends  wishing  to  see  Tintern  Abbey,  to 
pass  the  night  here,  and  see  the  ruins  at  sunset, 
by  moonlight,  and  at  early  dawn,  as  we  have. 


SKETCHES  AJ3KOAD 


EXETER,  June  23. 
E  left  Tintern  this 
morning  with  great 
reluctance,  and 
went  to  Gloucester 
and  to  the  cathe 
dral,  which,  if  pos 
sible,  is  finer  than 
that  at  Hereford.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  con- 
vey  even  a  slight  idea  of  its  magnificence,  or  of 
the  interesting  monuments  it  contains.  Among 
many  others  we  were  shown  that  of  Edward  II., 
who,  you  remember,  was  murdered  in  Berkeley 
Castle.  This  tomb  is,  perhaps,  the  most  interest 
ing  of  all ;  the  face  of  the  king  has  a  sad  smile. 
There  is  also  a  monument  to  Robert,  Duke  of 
Normandy,  son  of  William  the  Conqueror ;  on 
the  tomb  is  his  figure  carved  out  of  Irish  oak  and 
colored  ;  he  is  dressed  as  a  Crusader,  in  chain- 
mail,  legs  crossed,  and  in  the  act  of  drawing  his 
sword  ;  the  figure  is  so  light  that  I  raised  it  with 
one  hand  with  a  very  slight  effort.  Cromwell's 
soldiers  knocked  it  to  pieces  during  the  Great  Re- 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  I  5 

bellion,  but  the  fragments  were  put  together  again 
after  the  Restoration.  There  is  a  monument  to 
"  John  Bower,  and  Anne  his  wife,"  with  no  less 
than  seven  sons  and  six  daughters,  who  are  all  on 
their  knees  —  the  sons  behind  Bower,  senior,  and 
the  girls  behind  Mrs.  Bower.  They  all  appear  to 
be  exceedingly  jolly  over  the  death  of  the  old 
folks,  and  are  clapping  their  hands.  "  The 
babies,"  as  a  friend  of  ours  facetiously  remarked, 
"  cutting  round  the  corner  of  the  tomb  to  be  in  at 
the  death  !  "  These  old  fellows  had  a  very  small 
sense  of  the  ridiculous,  or  they  would  not  have 
had  that  kind  of  thing  put  over  them.  In  the 
Chapter  House  was  crowned  Henry  II.  There 
were  several  other  tombs  with  figures  of  the 
eleventh,  twelfth,  and  seventeenth  centuries,  many 
of  them  very  elaborate  and  beautiful,  but  villain 
ously  ugly  as  portraits 

To-morrow  we  shall  visit  the  cathedral  here, 
and  then  start  for  London,  stopping  on  the  way 
for  a  flying  look  at  Salisbury  Cathedral. 


1 6  SKETCHES  ABROAD 


LONDON,    "June  29. 

Saturday  night,  we  reached  this  immense 
city,  and  have  decided  to  try  the  "  Charing 
Cross  Hotel,"  until  we  can  find  "  lodgings  "  to 
suit  us,  as  we  are  told  that  is  the  most  agreeable 
way  to  live  in  London.  From  the  window  of 
my  room  I  can  see  St.  Paul's,  and  the  vast  city 
stretching  away  on  all  sides.  In  the  morning  we 
drove  to  Westminster  Abbey  to  hear  the  service ; 
as  it  was  Sunday,  we  were  obliged  to  defer  our 
visit  to  the  monuments.  On  our  way  home  we 
saw  the  Horse  Guards,  two  of  them  sitting  on 
their  horses  under  archways,  like  statues,  remind 
ing  us  of  illustrations  in  the  "  London  News." 

On  Monday,  we  went  to  the  Royal  Academy 
and  National  Gallery,  which  are  both  in  the  same 
building.  The  exhibition  at  the  first  is  very  good 
as  a  whole,  containing  some  fine  works  by  Land- 
seer,  and  some  strong  portraits  painted  with  great 
vigor  and  breadth.  The  Landseers  are  charming, 
showing  wonderful  freedom  and  truth ;  much  bet 
ter  than  I  expected,  as  I  have  always  understood 
that  his  pictures  were  poor  in  color.  The  rooms 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  I  7 

were  crowded,  too  much  so  for  comfort,  —  the 
weather  being  quite  hot,  —  and  we  retreated  to 
the  National  Gallery,  which,  being  a  permanent 
exhibition,  was  not  so  well  attended.  Here  we 
had  a  glorious  treat.  The  first  picture  that  forci 
bly  struck  me,  as  I  entered  the  second  room,  was 
a  splendid  head  by  Rembrandt,  — great  would  be 
the  better  expression,  —  so  full  of  life,  it  almost 
seemed  to  think.  There  hung,  also,  a  "  Portrait 
of  a  Gentleman  "  by  Vandyke,  another  marvelous 
work  of  genius  ;  Velasquez'  portrait  of  Philip  of 
Spain ;  several  more  heads  by  Rembrandt,  all 
fine,  especially  one  of  himself  as  an  old  man  ;  a 
very  fine  Turner  next  to  a  Claude ;  the  latter 
rather  disappointed  me.  I  only  glanced  at  the 
rest,  having  an  engagement  which  obliged  me  to 
leave ;  but  I  intend  to  return  soon  and  spend  a 
morning  there. 

We  have  been  to  the  Kensington  Museum, 
which  is  filled  with  an  immense  variety  of  articles, 
together  with  fine  pictures  of  the  English  School, 
from  the  time  of  Reynolds  to  the  present  day, 
as  well  as  the  celebrated  cartoons  by  Raphael. 
Here  are  Wilkie's  exquisite  "  Village  Festival " 
and  "  Blind  Fiddler,"  and  Hogarth's  works  which 
show  a  wonderful  power  of  invention  and  knowl 
edge  of  character. 


1 8  SKETCHES   ABROAD 

On  one  morning  we  visited  the  Tower,  a  place 
of  intense  interest,  as  you  know.  After  waiting 
in  an  out-building  until  a  sufficient  number  of 
visitors  had  arrived,  we  were  conducted  by  the 
Warder,  dressed  in  the  style  of  the  Beef-eaters  of 
Henry  VIII.'s  time,  to  the  Horse  Armory.  Here 
are  about  thirty  figures,  in  full  armor,  from  the 
time  of  Edward  I.  to  that  of  James  II. ;  many  of 
them  known  to  have  been  worn  by  various  kings 
of  England.  Opposite  to  these  are  glass  cases 
filled  with  arms  and  armor  of  many  nations  and 
periods  ;  among  them  a  suit  of  Greek  armor  of 
two  thousand  years  ago,  the  helmet  like  that  of 
Minerva ;  also,  ancient  arms  of  the  early  Britons 
and  Romans ;  splendid  armor  from  India,  the 
stocks  of  the  guns  inlaid  with  jewels.  There 
were  stacks,  piles,  mountains  of  arms  !  arranged 
on  the  walls  and  ceilings  in  every  imaginable 
shape,  and  in  fine  taste.  We  were  afterwards 
taken  to  Elizabeth's  Armory,  in  the  White  Tower. 
In  this  room  Raleigh  was  confined  many  years, 
and,  opening  into  it,  is  the  cell  where  he  slept, 
twelve  feet  long  by  eight  wide  !  On  each  side  of 
the  entrance,  are  names  cut  in  the  stone,  by  for 
mer  prisoners  of  state.  Opposite  the  cell  stands 
the  block  on  which  the  Lords  Balmarino,  Kilmar- 
nock,  and  Lovet,  were  beheaded  ;  it  is  nearly 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 


black,  and  of  solid  oak  ;  the  marks  of  the  axe  are 
distinctly  visible.     Near  it,  rests  the  axe  used  at 

the  execution  of  Lady  Jane 
Grey  and  Anne  Boleyn. 
We  next  entered  the  Beau- 
champ  Tower ;  the  walls  are 
covered  with  names  and  re 
marks,  cut  in  the  stone  by 
various  unhappy  state  pris 
oners.  We  were  shown  the 
room  in  which  the  children 
of  Edward  IV.  were  mur 
dered,  and  the  narrow,  wind 
ing  stairs,  down  which  the  bodies  were  thrown ; 
the  bones  were  found  at  the  bottom  of  these 
stairs  by  some  workmen  in  the  reign  of  Charles 
II.,  you  remember.  As  I  left  this  chamber,  which 
is  directly  over  the  Traitor's  Gate,  I  paused  to 
lean  upon  the  top  of  the  portcullis,  and  looked 
down  upon  the  spot  so  often  trodden  by  those 
famous  in  history.  This  portcullis  is  the  only 
one  in  England  which  is  in  a  good  state  of  pres 
ervation,  and  is  raised  and  lowered  twice  a  year; 
it  was  made  in  the  thirteenth  century.  As  we 
came  out  of  the  Tower  into  the  Court,  or  Green, 
as  it  is  called,  we  saw  the  brass  plate  fixed  in  the 
ground,  on  which  is  an  inscription  to  the  effect 


2O 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


that,  on  that  spot,  were  executed  Lady  Jane  Grey 
and  Anne  Boleyn.  On  parting  with  our  guide, 
he  gathered  some  flowers  from  his  garden  in  the 
moat,  and  presented  them  to  the  ladies. 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL. 


21 


LONDON,  July  23. 
N  Thursday,  we  paid  an 
other  visit  to  Westminster 
Abbey  (entering  at  the 
Poets'  Corner),  and  found 
ourselves  at  once  among 
the  monuments  of  the  illus 
trious  dead  :  of  Gray,  Pope, 
Shakespeare,  Addison,  and 
a  host  of  others,  whose 
names  have  been  familiar  to 
Henry  VII.'s  chapel  is  truly 
magnificent ;  very  elaborate  and  delicate  in  de 
sign,  in  strong  contrast  with  which  are  the  tombs 
of  the  four  Georges,  simply  flat  slabs  in  the 
pavement ;  —  we  consequently  had  the  honor  of 
walking  over  those  royal  individuals.  It  is  not 
worth  while  to  enter  into  a  minute  account  of  all 
we  saw  in  this  time-honored  Abbey,  so  I  will 
merely  tell  you  of  the  coronation  chair  of  the 
time  of  Edward  I.,  in  which  all  the  kings  and 
queens  of  England  have  been  crowned  since  his 
time.  Near  by  are  two  shields  used  at  the  battles 


us  from  childhood. 


22  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

of  Agincourt  and  Crecy ;  also  a  two-handed  sword 
which  was  carried  at  the  coronation  of  Edward 
I.  Underneath  the  seat  of  the  chair,  is  placed 
the  stone  on  which  the  kings  of  Scotland  were 
crowned--  I  need  not  say  it  was  the  most  inter 
esting  stone  I  ever  looked  at. 

On  Friday,  we  drove  for  three  hours  in  Hyde 
Park,  where  we  saw  a  great  many  of  the  nobility 
and  gentry,  among  whom  we  were  surprised  to 
see  so  little  beauty.  The  park  is  very  extensive  ; 
numbers  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  were  driving  to 
and  fro  in  dashing  equipages  ;  the  footmen  and 
coachmen  gayly  attired  in  variously  colored  small 
clothes,  and  wearing  crisp  little  wigs  ;  equestrians 
of  both  sexes,  mounted  on  noble  animals,  trotted 
up  and  down  Rotten  Row,  and  policemen  on 
horseback  were  busily  employed  keeping  the  car 
riages  in  line,  while  crowds  of  admiring  gazers 
lounged  upon  the  railing.  Judging  from  the 
gravity  with  which  all  these  good  people  bow  to 
each  other  from  their  carriages,  one  would  sup 
pose  a  daily  drive  in  the  Park  to  be  very  serious 
business. 

We  spent  one  day  wandering  through  Hamp 
ton  Court  Palace  and  enjoying  the  pictures,  of 
which  there  are  hundreds.  In  the  Great  Hall, 
used  as  a  theatre  during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  23 

and  James  I.,  some  of  Shakespeare's  plays  were 
first  acted.  The  walls  are  hung  with  arras  tap 
estry,  representing  scenes  from  the  life  of  Abra 
ham,  quaint  and  curious.  Among  the  portraits 
are  those  of  Henry  VIII.,  Cardinal  Wolsey, 
Queen  Elizabeth,  and  Jane  Seymour,  all  Lely's 
portraits  of  the  beauties  of  the  court  of  Charles 
II.,  and  a  number  of  Vandyke's  and  Kneller's. 
Lely's  I  thought  stiff  and  affected.  Holbein's 
Henry  VIII.  is  full  of  that  intense  individuality 
which  characterizes  all  his  works.  In  one  room 
is  a  group  of  arms  of  the  time  of  the  blood 
thirsty  Harry,  while  the  windows  are  decorated 
with  arms  and  badges  of  his  wives.  Here  he 
gave  magnificent  entertainments  to  foreign  kings 
and  nobles. 

The  palace  is  open  to  the  public  on  certain 
days,  and  it  seemed  strange  to  see,  as  we  did, 
the  commonest  classes  streaming  through  these 
grand  apartments,  gaping  about  in  open-mouthed 
wonder  and  amazement,  at  the  remains  of  former 
splendor.  However,  Time  respects  crowns  as 
little  as  hob-nails ;  you  might  now  take  all  that  is 
left  of  Harry  the  Eighth  —  who  once  made  all 
England  tremble  at  his  frown  —  between  your 
finger  and  thumb,  and  he  would  only  make  you 
sneeze  at  the  most !  We  passed  through  room 


24  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

after  room  until  we  were  completely  worn  out, 
and  I  found  myself  sitting  down  in  the  great, 
deep  window  to  rest,  looking  out  upon  the  splen 
did  garden  with  its  fountains,  trees,  and  flowers, 
arranged  in  the  old  French  style,  somewhat  stiff 
but  very  pleasing  in  effect.  While  thus  resting,  I 
could  not  help  thinking  of  those  so  famous  and 
infamous  in  history,  who  had  once  wandered 
through  these  stately  apartments :  of  that  mon 
strous  historical  Bluebeard,  the  Eighth  Henry ; 
of  the  proud  and  ambitious  Wolsey,  who  here 
exercised  his  magnificent  hospitality  ;  of  the 
tyrannical  bigot  Mary ;  of  the  (so  called)  Good 
Queen  Bess,  the  strong  -  headed  and  wrong- 
headed  ;  of  the  accomplished  Sidney  ;  the  fiery 
and  unfortunate  Essex,  and  the  intriguing  Lei 
cester. 

Yesterday,  Sunday,  we  attended  service  at  the 
Middle  Temple  Church  in  Temple  Bar.  Close 
by  where  I  stood,  were  the  tombs  of  five  Crusa 
ders,  each  bearing  its  mail-clad  figure.  I  fear 
John  Bull  has  small  reverence  for  departed  great 
ness,  as  these  recumbent  wearers  of  iron  shirts 
were  made  the  resting-places  of  hats  and  umbrel 
las  belonging  to  the  congregation.  As  we  entered 
the  church  Lord  Brougham  passed  us  on  the  way 
to  his  pew ;  he  seemed  aged  and  infirm,  walking 


WITH  PEN  AND    PENCIL.  25 

with  apparent  difficulty.  After  the  service  was 
over,  we  looked  about  the  grave-yard  in  search  of 
Oliver  Goldsmith's  grave,  which  we  at  length 
found,  bearing  the  simple  inscription,  "  Here  lies 
Oliver  Goldsmith,"  which  says  more  than  much 
more  could  have  said. 

I  received  an  order  to-day  from  Sir  John  Bur- 
goyne,  the  commanding  officer  of  the  Tower,  giv 
ing  me  permission  to  visit  it,  with  my  party,  as 
often  as  I  pleased,  with  every  facility  to  enable  me 
to  make  drawings  —  a  permission .  of  which,  you 
may  be  sure,  I  shall  very  soon  avail  myself.  We 
have  been  to  the  famous  Dulwich  Gallery,  where 
there  are  many  fine  pictures  —  some  admirable 
Guidos,  Murillos,  Van  Dykes,  etc.  .  .  . 

We  are  often  drawn  to  the  window  by  the  droll 
est  scenes  of  buffoonery  going  forward  in  the 
street.  Sometimes  we  are  regaled  by  an  exhibi 
tion  of  "  ground  and  lofty  tumbling  "  on  an  out 
spread  carpet,  or  charmed  by  a  band  of  wind 
instruments,  or  a  female  ballad-singer,  with,  per 
haps,  a  sweet  and  touching  voice  to  conjure  the 
money  from  our  pockets  ;  now  we  have  a  learned 
monkey  who  discharges  a  gun  with  the  intrepidity 
of  long  experience  ;  at  another  time  the  redoubta 
ble  Punch  and  his  life-long  associate,  Judy,  make 
their  appearance  ;  again,  a  band  of  Ethiopian 

4 


26 


SKETCHES   ABROAD 


minstrels  in  their  striped  unmentionables  and 
"  long-tailed  blue,"  come  upon  the  scene,  led  by 
an  extraordinary  figure  who  has  dared  to  appro 
priate  the  prodigious  nose  and  protuberant  paunch 
of  the  illustrious  Punch,  and  with  a  stand  before 
him,  beats  time  upon  a  very  dirty  piece  of  music. 
There  is  something  quite  foreign  in  all  this  kind 
of  thing,  which  we  hardly  expected  to  have  seen 
in  the  streets  of  London,  but  rather  supposed  to 
be  confined  to  vivacious  Italv. 


i  \ 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  2J 


KENILWORTH,  July  27. 

A  VOIDING  the  gay  watering-place  of  Leam- 
^^  ington,  where  most  travellers  stop,  we  came 
on  to  Kenilworth  and  to  this  quiet  inn,  called  the 
"  King's  Arms,"  where  we  are  as  comfortable  as 
possible.  The  host  and  hostess  met  us  at  the 
door  with  bows  and  courtesies,  and  sent  a  neat 
little  maid  to  light  us  to  our  apartments,  and 
when,  after  removing  our  dusty  garments,  we  re 
turned  to  our  sitting-room,  behold !  a  delicious 
repast  was  awaiting  us,  to  which  we  immediately 
did  ample  justice. 

As  soon  as  possible  the  next  morning,  we  hur 
ried  to  the  castle  of  the  villainous  Leicester.  We 
ascended  the  tower  called  that  of  Amy  Robsart, 
and  saw  the  gate  erected  for  the  entrance  of  Eliz 
abeth  when  she  was  entertained  by  the  Earl. 
Again,  the  poetry  of  the  place  was  greatly  marred 
by  the  herds  of  country  people  who  came  shout 
ing  and  rushing  about  in  a  boisterous  manner, 
gaping  at  me  while  I  was  drawing,  and  sprawling 
about  the  grass  like  cattle.  There  is  no  sentiment 
in  that  kind  of  thing  ;  to  feel  these  places  which 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  29 

them  before  !     The  church  is  beautifully  situated 
on  the  Avon.     .     .     . 

Continuing  our  drive  to  Shottery,  we  visited 
Anne  Hathaway 's  cottage,  about  a  mile,  I  should 
think,  from  Stratford.  It  is  a  simple,  low-roofed, 
thatched  cottage,  with  vines  creeping  up  the 
walls ;  inside,  the  ceilings  are  low  —  the  beams 
black  with  age.  After  examining,  with  interest, 
all  the  rooms  which  we  were  permitted  to  enter,  I 
borrowed  a  chair  from  the  woman  who  now  occu 
pies  the  cottage,  and  who  claims  to  be  a  descend 
ant  of  the  Hathaways,  and,  seating  myself  in  the 
garden  opposite  the  door  through  which  the 
mighty  bard  had  so  often  passed  to  meet  his 
Anne,  made  a  sketch  which,  I  am  sure,  will  inter 
est  you  much.  I  forgot  to  mention  an  antique 
and  curious  article  of  furniture,  a  sort  of  high- 
backed  bench,  which  stood  inside  of  the  chim 
ney-place,  and  is  called  "  Shakespeare's  courting- 
chair,"  where,  doubtless,  the  illustrious  dramatist 
had,  "  many  a  time  and  oft,"  talked  soft  nonsense 
to  "  the  idol  of  his  eyes  and  delight  of  his  heart." 
While  I  was  busy  with  my  pencil,  the  good  mat 
ron  gave  the  ladies  some  flowers  which  she  gath 
ered  from  the  quantities  in  front  of  the  house.  As 
we  returned,  we  passed  Charlecote,  and  tried  the 
gate  which  we  unfortunately  found  locked.  We 


30  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

saw  the  house  in  the  distance,  and  groups  of  deer 
under  the  trees  near  the  road,  which  trotted  off  as 
we  paused  to  look  at  them. 

We  were  charmed  with  the  fine  old  village  of 
Warwick,  the  upper  stories  of  its  houses  project 
ing  over  the  street,  and  with  its  antique  gateways 
through  which  we  drove  on  returning  to  Kenil- 
worth. 

Returning  from  the  post-office  yesterday,  I 
stopped  to  look  at  the  ruins  of  Kenilworth  Ab 
bey.  Very  little  remains,  as  you  will  see  by 
the  enclosed  sketch  —  only  the  gateway. 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 


KENILWORTH,  July  31. 
N  Friday,  we  went  to  Guy's 
Cliff,  which  is  only  two  or 
three  miles  from  here.  Guy's 
Cliff  is  so  called  from  a 
cave  said  to  have  been  hol 
lowed  out  of  the  solid  rock 
by  the  redoubtable  Guy, 
Earl  of  Warwick,  who,  in  a 
fit  of  remorse  for  having 
slain  so  many  of  his  fellow- 
creatures,  retired  to  this  cave  and  lived  there 
alone  for  thirty  years.  In  it  is  to  be  seen  an  old 
chest  made  by  Guy  out  of  the  trunk  of  a  tree, 
about  eight  feet  long  and  with  three  lids,  —  a  very 
rude  affair.  Near  the  cave  are  some  cloisters, 
which  have  stood  there  for  centuries,  and  have 
also  been  cut  out  of  the  solid  rock  —  the  marks 
of  the  rude  tools  are  quite  visible. 

Saturday  we  devoted  to  Warwick  Castle  and 
the  town.  We  were  admitted  to  the  lodge  by  an 
antique  portress  who  showed  us,  there,  some  of 
the  arms  and  armor  of  the  mighty  Guy,  who,  she 


32  SKETCHES   ABROAD 

said,  was  nine  feet  high !  His  breast-plate  was 
three  feet  long  and  thirty-five  pounds  in  weight, 
and  might  well  have  belonged  to  a  giant.  I  could 
scarcely  raise  his  shield  with  both  hands ;  his 
sword  weighed  twenty  pounds.  Guy's  porridge 
pot  is  also  there  ;  this  ponderous  vessel  holds  one 
hundred  and  twenty  gallons,  and  weighs  eight 
hundred  and  three  pounds.  The  ancient  maiden 
struck  it  with  his  flesh-fork,  in  order  to  prove  its 
good  condition,  and  it  sounded  like  a  great,  brass 
bell,  almost  stunning  us.  She  told  us  that  she 
had  seen  it  thrice  filled  with  punch  and  emptied, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  coming  of  age  of  the 
present  Earl  of  Warwick.  Among  other  curious 
things  shown,  was  a  rib  of  the  dun  cow  which 
Guy  killed  at  Dunsmore  Heath,  the  pith  of  her 
horns,  and  one  joint  of  her  spine,  etc. 

The  road,  from  the  lodge  to  the  castle,  is  hewn 
out  of  the  solid  rock,  which  time  has  draped  with 
ivy  and  adorned  with  flowers,  growing  wherever 
they  can  find  a  foothold.  The  castle  is  certainly, 
by  far,  the  finest  we  have  seen,  because  in  a  per 
fect  state  of  repair.  It  is  grand  beyond  expres 
sion  ;  the  highest  tower  is  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
four  feet,  covered  with  ivy  and  surrounded  with 
lofty  trees ;  it  was  quite  up  to  my  wi-ldest  ideas 
of  castellated  splendor.  The  noble  apartments  of 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  33 

this  stately,  baronial  residence  are,  most  of  them, 
filled  with  ancient  arms,  armor,  and  fine  pictures ; 
some  of  the  best  Vandykes  I  have  seen.  The 
views  from  the  windows  are  truly  beautiful :  noble 
trees -- cedars  brought  from  Lebanon  —  sweep 
with  their  branches  a  magnificent  lawn  sloping  to 
the  banks  of  the  winding  river,  which  is  partly 
spanned  by  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  bridge. 
Among  the  suits  of  armor,  I  particularly  remem 
ber  those  of  Edward  the  Black  Prince,  of  Prince 
Rupert,  and  of  the  Earl  of  Montrose ;  also,  a 
helmet  worn  by  Cromwell.  Below  one  of  the 
towers,  we  peeped  into  a  dungeon  where  Piers 
Gaveston  was  confined  previous  to  his  execu 
tion. 

In  the  state  bed-room  is  a  bed  called  "  Queen 
Anne's  " ;  it  has  never  been  used  or  altered  since 
she  slept  in  it,  when  on  a  visit  to  the  castle.  The 
room  was  used  as  a  retiring-room  by  Queen  Vic 
toria,  who  was  there  some  years  ago,  and  the 
toilet-table,  arranged  for  her,  stands  as  she  left 
it. 


34  SKETCHES  ABROAD 


ROWSLEY,  August  6. 

A  FEW  hours  in  the  cars  brought  us  from 
^*-  Kenilworth  to  this  place,  where  we  have 
been  staying  some  days  at  the  "  Peacock,"  a 
charming  old  inn  which  was  once  the  Manor 
House  of  Haddon  Hall,  and  is  about  four  miles 
from  Chatsworth.  We  look  from  our  latticed  win 
dows  over  a  lawn,  gay  with  beds  of  bright  flowers, 
bounded  by -the  River  Wye,  which  flows  within  a 
short  distance  of  the  house. 

The  other  day,  in  strolling  about  the  village, 
we  stopped  at  the  old  church,  to  look  among  the 
gravestones  for  the  name  of  L ,  whose  ances 
tors,  you  know,  came  from  this  part  of  Derby 
shire.  While  doing  so,  a  girl  came  from  the 
cottage  opposite,  to  show  us  the  interior  of  the 
church  ;  and  when  I  asked  her  if  any  one  of  that 
name  resided  in  the  neighborhood,  she  replied, 
"  No,  sir;  not  for  many  years ;"  that  the  family  was 
a  very  old  one,  and  that,  in  the  church,  there  was 

the  effigy  of  a  crusader  called  Sir  John  L , 

which  she  would  show  us.      I   entered  immedi 
ately,  to  embrace  my  friend's  ancestor,  but  found 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  35 

him,  unfortunately,  destitute  of  nose  and  decid 
edly  dusty,  so  I  only  sketched  him,  as  a  delicate 
attention.  He  was  a  crusader  of  the  twelfth 
century,  and  his  stone  coffin  was  found  in,  or 
near,  the  church  some  years  ago.  The  ancient 
Gothic  church  is  called  St.  Helen's.  L-  -  Hall 
is  a  large,  stone  mansion,  very  old  and  massive, 
no  longer  occupied  by  an  L--  — ,  but  by  some 
one  whose  name  I  have  forgotten.  I  think  our 
friend  must  descend  from  the  Crusader  hereafter, 
and  like  old  Mrs.  O—  — ,  forever  regret  his  "  Dear 
Sir  John  !  "  Cutting  throats  was  certainly  a  very 
genteel  and  honorable  business  in  the  Crusaders' 
time,  particularly  in  the  Holy  Land. 

Haddon  Hall  we  found  even  more  interesting 
than  we  expected.  It  stands  on  a  hill,  in  the  midst 
of  fine,  old  trees,  with  the  river  flowing  at  its  foot 
and  an  exquisite  country  about  it ;  very  like 
Stockbridge  in  character,  though  here  the  hills 
are  much  higher.  The  Hall  took  me  back  to  the 
past  more  vividly  than  anything  I  have  yet  seen. 
In  some  of  the  rooms  the  furniture  and  pictures 
still  remain,  as  well  as  the  old  tapestry  upon  the 
walls.  In  the  dining  hall,  the  deers'  antlers, 
bleached  by  time,  are  yet  upon  the  wall  as  of 
old,  while  in  the  middle  of  the  room  stand 
the  tables,  partly  rotted  away,  with  the  rude 


36  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

benches  near  them.  In  the  kitchen  are  the 
ancient  chopping-blocks  and  meat-hooks.  The 
ball-room  is  about  seventy  feet  long,  paneled,  and 
with  deep,  bay  windows.  At  the  end  of  this 
extensive  apartment,  inclosed  in  a  glass  case,  is  a 
plaster  cast  of  the  face  of  Lady  Grace  Manners, 
taken  after  death  —  a  lively  thing  to  "  forward 
two  "  to !  From  this  room,  by  the  door  through 
which  the  fair  Dorothy  Vernon  eloped  with  her 
lover,  Sir  John  Manners,  we  entered  the  garden, 
which,  by  the  way,  is  a  small  paradise,  with  its 
terraced  walks  and  noble  trees. 

We  wandered  through  old  rooms,  up  narrow 
staircases  in  towers,  looked  through  latticed  win 
dows  at  lovely  views,  then  descended,  crossed  a 
court-yard  and  into  a  vestibule,  which  we  found 
was  the  entrance  to  the  chapel.  Here  we  sat  in 
one  of  the  pews,  gazing  at  the  faded  colors  of  the 
stained  glass  window,  which  bore  the  date  1424. 
There  stood  the  ancient  font,  the  work  of  some 
rude  hand,  clumsy  and  ponderous,  with  its  curi 
ous  lid  of  wood ;  there,  on  either  side  of  the 
chapel,  the  two  family  pews,  with  high  railings 
around  them,  and  small  reading-desks  projecting 
from  the  front ;  to  the  right,  the  benches  for  the 
servants,  plain  and  square-cut  as  a  Puritan  ;  to 
the  left,  the  pulpit  and  reading-desk,  one  above 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 


37 


the  other.  I  could  easily  imagine  the  haughty 
cavalier,  with  his  long,  gray  locks  and  pointed 
beard,  his  huge,  buff  boots,  and  his  narrow-bladed 
rapier  with  its  clumsy  shell,  his  aspect  stately 
and  severe,  walking  up  the  chapel  with  his  \vife 
upon  his  arm,  followed  by  his  family  and  retain 
ers. 

On   Sunday,  we   went   to    the   church    in  the 


village,  and,  during  service,  I  took  another  look 
at  "  Dear  Sir  John,"  whom  I  found  on  my  right, 
unpleasantly  ornamented  with  sundry  sticks  and 
hats,  one  of  the  latter  gracefully  reposing  upon 
his  venerable  stomach,  which  showed  a  great 
want  of  respect  for  the  comfort  and  general 
aspect  of  our  friend's  departed  ancestor,  on  the 


38  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

part  of  the  congregation  !  The  hat  —  which 
must  be  highly  indigestible,  and  with  which  the 
Crusader  must  have  been  afflicted,  doubtless,  for 
centuries,  on  Sundays  —  accounts  to  me  for  the 
dyspepsia  with  which  the  L—  -  family  have  been 
so  long  tormented,  and  which  is  evidently  inher 
ited  from  the  lamented  knight !  As  we  left,  we 
paused  to  take  a  last  look  at  his  stone  coffin,  with 
the  hope  of  finding  a  pinch  of  his  venerated 
dust,  —  but  in  vain. 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  39 


CANTERBURY,  August  12. 

OINCE  I  wrote  you  last,  we  have  visited  Hard- 
wick  Hall,  which  was  built,  during  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth,  by  the  Countess  of  Shrews 
bury  —  the  famous  "  Bess  of  Hardwick."  This 
fine  old  mansion  is,  if  possible,  even  more  inter 
esting  than  Haddon  Hall --the  antique  furniture, 
arms,  armor,  pictures,  all  having  been  preserved, 
are  still  in  their  places,  so  that  it  looks  as  if  the 
Countess  might  now  inhabit  it.  In  one  of  the 
rooms  there  is  furniture  once  used  by  Mary, 
Queen  of  Scots,  the  covers  of  which  were 
embroidered  by  her  and  her  maidens.  It  was 
removed  from  the  older  mansion,  which  was 
destroyed  by  fire,  and  the  ruins  of  which  are  still 
standing  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  —  the 
sad  remains  of  what  was  once  the  prison  of 
the  unfortunate  Mary  Stuart.  In  the  picture 
gallery,  a  room  eighty  feet  long  and  twenty-five 
feet  high,  is  a  large  collection  of  family  portraits, 
from  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.  to  Charles  II. 
The  walls  of  this  room,  as  well  as  most  of  the 
others,  are  hung  with  tapestry  which  falls  over 


40  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

and  completely  conceals  the  doors.  The  place 
now  belongs  to  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  the 
owner  of  half  a  dozen  other  noble  estates.  .  . 

We  reached  Canterbury  on  Saturday,  and  I 
am  writing  this  in  —  not  the  Tabard  inn  of 
Chaucer,  but  the  Royal  Fountain  inn.  On 
Sunday,  we  attended  service  at  St.  Martin's,  the 
oldest  church  in  England,  in  which  St.  Paul  is 
said  to  have  preached.  It  is  quite  small,  and,  of 
course,  covered  with  ivy.  The  town  is  a  very 
interesting  one  ;  the  streets  narrower  than  those 
of  Chester,  and  filled  with  as  quaint  houses.  This 
morning,  I  wandered  out  in  search  of  subjects  for 
my  pencil,  and  found  so  much  that  was  pictu 
resque,  it  was  difficult  to  choose,  but  finally  seated 
myself  before  a  fine  old  Norman  staircase,  built 
at  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  and  made  a  large 
sketch  from  it.  The  Cathedral  is  very  beautiful, 
and,  I  should  think,  the  largest  that  we  have  seen. 
We  visited  it  this  afternoon,  and  soon  found  the 
tomb  of  the  Black  Prince,  with  his  helmet,  shield, 
and  gauntlets.  The  figure,  now  blackened  by 
age,  is  of  brass-gilt,  and  the  best  that  I  have  seen, 
thus  far,  on  any  of  the  tombs  ;  it  has  been  here 
nearly  five  hundred  years.  Before  we  left  the 
Cathedral  we  returned  to  take  a  "  last,  long,  lin 
gering  look,"  telling  the  woman  in  charge  that 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  41 

we  had  come  three  thousand  miles  to  pay  our 
respects  to  him,  and  were,  we  thought,  entitled  to 
a  second  view.  We  were  taken  down  to  the 
Lady's  Chapel  in  the  crypt,  which  is  the  oldest 
part  of  the  building,  and  near  which  are  two  very 


ancient  and  curious  tombs  of  two  ladies  of  rank. 
It  was  impossible  to  distinguish  the  recumbent 
figures  upon  them,  owing  to  the  "  dim,  religious 
light  "  by  which  we  saw  them.  The  spot  where 
the  proud  prelate,  Thomas  ^  Becket,  was  mur 
dered,  was  also  pointed  out  to  us. 


42  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

England  is  certainly  a  most  interesting  coun 
try,  every  foot  of  which  seems  to  have  its  his 
tory  ;  the  beauty  of  the  scenery,  too,  is  very 
great.  You  constantly  see  old  churches,  of  the 
tenth  or  twelfth  centuries,  lifting  their  venerable 
spires  above  the  trees,  entirely  unconscious  of  the 
interest  the  eager  traveller  takes  in  their  story. 
Then,  too,  the  quaint,  old  cottages  with  their 
thatched  roofs,  gray  in  the  service  of  protecting 
those  beneath  them  from  the  storms  of  past  cen 
turies,  with  the  ever-present  flowers  about  them, 
and  the  ivy  creeping  over  them  like  a  green 
mantle.  We  leave,  to-morrow,  for  the  Conti 
nent. 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL. 


43 


PARIS,  August  17. 

S  I  told  you,  in  my  last  letter, 
we  were  on  our  way  to 
Paris,  which  we  reached  on 
the  1 5th,  the  birth-day  of 
Napoleon,  and  now  always 
kept  as  a  holiday.  In  the 
morning,  we  drove  about 
the  city,  and,  in  the  eve 
ning,  went  to  see  the  illumi 
nations  and  fire-works, 
which  were  truly  magnif 
icent.  The  Champs  Elysees,  for  its  whole  length, 
was  festooned  with  colored  lamps,  and  the  Tri 
umphal  Arch  was  seen  glittering  in  the  distance, 
while  the  fountains  in  the  Place  de  la  Concord 
rose  and  fell  in  a  blaze  of  light  that  made  every 
drop,  apparently,  a  jewel.  The  whole  scene 
was  one  of  marvelous  beauty,  and  gay  beyond 
description. 

I  tugged  and  pulled  J.  and  D.  through  a  mill 
ion  of  excited  Frenchmen,  J.  occasionally  and 
modestly  airing  her  French,  by  asking  a  gen- 


44  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

darme  where  and  when  the  fire-works  were  to 
come  off,  or  rather  go  up.  After  much  blunder 
ing,  we  found  ourselves  in  the  right  direction,  and 
were  suddenly  knocked  off  our  feet  by  a  million 
of  French  legs  running  round  the  corner,  accom 
panied  by  the  explosion  of  forty  thousand  can 
non,  a  terrible  rushing  sound  in  the  air,  and  the 
sky  quite  on  fire.  We  stood,  for  half  an  hour, 
in  a  perfect  blaze  of  splendor,  when  the  forty 
thousand  cannon  were  all  let  off  at  once,  while 
fifty  million  of  rockets  shot  into  the  air,- followed 
by  intense  darkness,  and  the  million  of  legs  all 
ran  back  again.  It  was  a  most  fortunate  thing 
we  did  not  reach  the  bridge  over  the  Seine,  to 
which  we  were  directed,  as  it  was  filled  with 
people  at  the  moment  the  rockets  were  thrown 
up,  and,  in  the  attempt  to  clear  it  by  the  police, 
many  persons  were  crushed  and  drowned. 

Paris  is  certainly  worthy  of  its  reputation,  far 
surpassing  London  in  beauty  and  style.  The 
streets  are  wide  and  the  houses  are  built  of  a 
light  tinted  stone,  with  plenty  of  color  in  the  bril 
liant  shop-windows  of  the  Boulevards.  There  is 
life  and  movement  everywhere  ;  you  see,  at  every 
step,  a  man  or  woman  singing,  or  playing  upon 
some  instrument — head,  legs,  and  arms  all  going; 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  45 

the  drivers  of  carts,  wagons,  or  carriages,  yelling 
at  the  people  to  get  out  of  the  way;  soldiers, 
citizens,  foreigners,  gensdarmes,  hand-organs,  and 
monkeys  all  in  a  muddle  together. 

My  profound  knowledge  of  the  language  of 
these  people  came  handsomely  into  play,  the  day 
after  our  arrival.  I  rashly  attempted  to  explore, 
alone,  the  Grand  Hotel,  at  which  we  are  now 
staying,  without  our  Columbus,  guide,  and  trans 
lator,  B—  — .  I  descended  from  our  apartment 
on  the  fourth  floor,  supposing,  idiot-like,  that  I 
could  reach  the  courtyard  unaided.  I  soon  found 
that  I  was  not  there.  I  ascended  and  descended 
twice  more  with  like  success,  coming  out  each 
time  in  strange  and  mysterious  places.  On  the 
fourth  descent,  I  encountered  a  small  French  boy 
in  blue,  with  bright  buttons,  standing  near  a 
door  which  opened  into  another  courtyard.  I 
advanced  and  observed  in  a  bland,  sweet  man 
ner,  "  I  want  to  go  to  the  other  courtyard,"  sup. 
posing  that,  if  I  reached  it,  I  could  go  up  in 
the  elevator,  which  would  land  me  close  to  my 
room.  Minute  foreigner  answered  in  unknown 
tongue.  "  You  dont  understand  English  ?  "  I 
asked.  The  little  boy's  face  wore  a  blank 
expression  —  he  merely  replied  by  a  shrug  of 


46 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


the  shoulders.  I  now  looked,  across  the  court 
yard  and  saw  an  iron  gate  locked,  through  which 
I  discovered,  to  my  great  joy,  my  courtyard.  I 

pointed  to  it  and 
said  :  "  I  wish  to 
go  there"'  Min 
ute  foreigner  an 
swered  in  strange 
accents,  and,  with 
great  determina 
tion  of  manner, 
pointed  upwards. 
I  sighed  in  de 
spair,  and  once 
more  staggered 
to  the  stairs  and 
mounted  for  the 
fifth  time.  On 
the  second  land 
ing  a  stout  waiter 
(French)  ad 
vanced  with  in 
quiring  eye  and  formal  bow.  I  observed,  with 
little  hope  of  success :  "  I  want  to  find  room  four 
hundred  and  fourteen."  He  vanished  instantly 
without  a  reply.  I  again  ascended  in  wretched- 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  4  7 

ness  of  spirit,  and  devoid  of  hope.  On  the  third 
floor  I  discovered,  in  an  office,  a  man  who  knew 
my  mother  tongue  —  God  bless  him!  I  plunged 
into  my  room  at  once  and  fell  prostrate  across  a 
table. 


4-8  SKETCHES  ABROAD 


GENEVA,  August  19. 

arrived  here  on  Friday,  after  a  hot  and 
fatiguing  ride,  all  night,  in  a  crowded  train. 
Our  companions  were  an  amiable  Englishman 
and  his  wife,  one  American,  and  a  dirty  French 
officer,  who  thrust  a  small  poodle  into  his  pocket 
every  time  the  guard  appeared,  as  dogs  are  con 
traband  articles  on  French  railroads.  There 
being  one  seat  left,  which  we  wished  to  retain,  we 
ingeniously  constructed  a  drowsy  foreigner  out  of 
a  carpet-bag,  two  shawls,  and  an  umbrella,  sur 
mounted  by  a  cap  ;  this  had  the  desired  effect, 
and  we  remained  free  from  intrusion  for  the  rest 
of  the  journey. 

To-day,  being  Sunday,  and  consequently  a  hol 
iday,  the  whole  place  is  alive  with  people.  Our 
windows  overlook  Lake  Leman,  and  I  have  a 
most  lovely  view  of  Mont  Blanc  in  the  distance, 
its  snow-covered  summit  flushed  with  the  rays  of 
the  setting  sun.  Below  me  boats  are  lying  at  the 
wharf,  gayly  decorated  with  flags,  while  the  pass 
ing  steamers  occasionally  fire  a  gun,  which  is 
answered  by  another  on  the  opposite  shore.  On 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  49 

the  quay,  near  by,  I  see  the  ponderous  German 
with  his  pipe  and  best  suit,  lounging  heavily 
along ;  the  light  Frenchman  with  cigar  and 
poodle ;  while  the  English  and  American  tourists, 
with  unlimited  families,  stare  about  them,  armed 
with  the  inevitable  Murray.  The  boats,  as  well 
as  the  larger  craft  here,  have  the  lateen  sail, 
which  is  very  graceful,  and  harmonizes  with  the 
beauty  of  the  surrounding  scenery. 

Yesterday,  we  took  the  small  steamer  up  the 
Lake  to  Chillon,  to  see  the  famous  castle,  a 
distance  of  fifty  miles.  The  views  are  grand 
beyond  anything  you  can  imagine  :  on  our  left 
were  lovely  hills  dotted  with  villages  and  green 
with  vineyards,  while  on  our  right  rose  lofty 
mountains,  the  noble  Mont  Blanc  towering  above 
them.  The  Castle  of  Chillon  is  built  upon  a  rock 
which  projects  into  the  Lake.  An  old  German 
conducted  us  through  the  building  and  gave 
us  its  history,  with  which  you  are  familiar.  In 
the  dungeon,  where  Bonnivard  was  confined  for 
six  years,  we  were  shown  the  pillar  with  the  iron 
ring  to  which  he  was  attached,  and  the  hole  in 
front  of  it,  worn,  by  his  feet,  in  the  solid  rock ; 
the  space  over  which  his  chain  allowed  him  to 
move,  not  being  over  eight  feet.  I  sat  on  the 
base  of  the  pillar,  and,  like  a  great  boy,  put  my 


50  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

feet  in  the  foot-prints,  —  they  have  been  there 
three  hundred  and  thirty  years.  Near  them,  on 
another  pillar,  is  Byron's  name  cut  in  the  stone 
by  himself,  when  on  a  visit  there.  Just  beyond,  is 
another  dungeon,  crossed  by  a  beam,  twelve  feet 
above  the  ground,  on  which  the  poor  wretches, 
found  guilty  of  political  offenses,  were  hung, 
during  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries.  I 
could  see  where  the  rope  had,  in  many  places,  cut 
into  the  wood.  In  another  room,  was  pointed  out 
to  us  a  hole  from  which  steps  descended  into 
darkness.  "  Observe,"  said  the  guide,  pointing 
down,  "  there  are  but  three ;  he  who  was  told  to 
walk  down,  found  no  fourth  step,  but  fell  a  dis 
tance  of  eighty  feet  into  the  Lake  beneath !  "  The 
invention  of  a  fiend !  We  saw,  also,  the  apart 
ments  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Savoy;  they 
are  quaint,  but  unfurnished.  .  .  . 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 


VEVAY,  August  29. 

Y  last  letter  was  from  Chamo- 
nix,  and  inclosed  a  sketch  of 
our  ascent  of  the  Flegere, 
which  I  found  a  very  hair- 
erecting  process,  and  which 
we  accomplished  on  the 
backs  of  mules,  with  guides 
for  the  ladies.  I  brought  up 
the  rear  on  a  critter  that 
looked  like  an  apple  on  four 
sticks.  The  tormenting  pro 
pensity  these  creatures  have  for  walking  on  the 
outer  edge  of  these  mountain  passes,  is  rather 
alarming  to  the  inexperienced.  You  sometimes 
look  down,  two  thousand  feet,  over  your  mule's 
neck,  as  he  turns  an  angle  of  the  road,  into  the 
misty  depths  below.  The  view  we  beheld  on 
reaching  the  top  of  La  Flegere  was  glorious  !  It 
embraces  the  entire  chain  of  Mont  Blanc,  from 
the  Col  de  Balme  to  the  Glacier  des  Bossons.  Di 
rectly  opposite  were  the  glittering  points  of  the 
Aiguilles  Vertes,  which  rose  before  us  like  a 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


mighty  vision ;  the  clouds  floating  about  their 
lofty  peaks,  now  shutting  them  from  our  sight, 
and  now  revealing  them,  with  a  strange  phospho- 


rescent  light  playing  upon  their  snow-clad  sum 
mits,  which  were  dazzling  in  their  splendor. 


WITH  PEN  AND    PENCIL.  53 

Our  next  visit  was  to  the  Montanvert.  After 
reaching  the  top,  or  rather  the  point  from  which 
it  is  usual  to  descend  to  the  Mer  de  Glace,  we  left 
our  mules,  and  crossed  the  famous  Glacier,  where, 
though  surrounded  by  snow  and  ice,  the  heat  was 
so  great  that  I  was  glad  to  throw  off  my  coat,  and 
walk,  staff  in  hand,  without  it.  After  crossing, 
we  crept  along  the  Mauvais  Pas  —  a  fearfully 
narrow  ledge  of  rock  —  like  flies,  till  we  came  to 
a  chalet,  where  we  stopped  half  an  hour  for 
refreshment.  Soon  after  leaving  the  chalet,  we 
remounted  our  mules,  which  had  been  brought 
by  a  boy  to  this  point.  During  our  absence 
from  the  village  of  Chamonix,  a  dreadful  accident 
had  taken  place.  Three  young  Englishmen,  who 
had  ascended  Mont  Blanc,  on  the  day  previous, 
without  guides,  in  descending,  fell  a  distance  of 
three  hundred  feet  —  thev  had  all  been  tied 
together  by  a  rope  attached  to  the  waist.  One 
of  them  was  instantly  killed,  and  the  others  ter 
ribly  bruised.  The  dead  body  lay  all  day  and 
night  on  the  mountain.  I  saw  it  distinctly 
through  a  glass,  where  it  seemed  but  a  speck 
upon  the  snow.  Eight  guides  were  sent  to  aid 
the  sufferers,  and  all  the  people  of  the  village 
seemed  to  sympathize  with  the  unfortunate  adven 
turers. 


54 


SKETCHES   ABROAD 


We  went  by  the 
pass  of  the  Tete 
Noire  to  Vernayaz, 
stopping  for  the 
night  at  the  Hotel 
de  la  Cascade,  in 
view  of  a  charm 
ing  waterfall.  The 
manner  of  bed- 
making  in  these 
inns,  is  quite  pecu- 
liar.  Here  we 
found,  for  the  first 
time,  the  German 
arrangement  of  two 
beds  for  each  per 
son,  and  on  retir 
ing  at  night,  slipped  into  them  like  a  bit  of  ham 
between  two  slices  of  bread,  and  reappeared  in 
the  morning,  head  first,  like  cautious  turtles. 
After  leaving  this  pleasant  little  inn,  we  passed 
through  a  country  which  was  picturesque  and 
romantic  in  the  highest  degree.  We  were  quite 
charmed  by  the  rude  shrines  which  stood  by  the 
wayside,  particularly  by  one  placed  upon  a  bridge 
spanning  a  foaming  cascade  which  plunged  a 
thousand  feet  into  the  wooded  vale  below. 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 


55 


Upon  reaching  Vernayaz,  we  took  leave  of  our 
obliging   guides,  and    my    apple   on  four  sticks, 


who  had  been  my  companion  during  all  our 
pleasant  excursions  in  this  neighborhood,  —  and 
took  the  cars  for  Vevay,  where  we  intend  to 
remain  several  days.  The  Hotel  Monnet  is  a 
large,  handsome  house,  and  is  filled  with  people, 
chiefly  Americans.  Three  times  a  week  we 
have  a  band  which  plays  during  dinner,  and  again 
for  dancing  in  the  evening.  We  were  fortunate 
in  securing  apartments  overlooking  the  lake,  as  I 
can  sit  at  my  window  and  sketch  the  opposite 
shore,  which  is  extremely  beautiful. 


56  SKETCHES  ABROAD 


MEIRINGEN,  September  9. 

1\  /T  Y  last  letter  was  from  Vevay,  and,  as  we 
^  have  been  ever  since  moving,  either  on 
horse  or  mule-back,  I  have  had  but  little  opportu 
nity  of  writing  until  to-day.  We  have  ascended 
and  descended,  partly  on  foot  and  partly  on  horse 
back,  mountains  ten  thousand  feet  high ;  at  one 
time  wading  ankle  deep  in  snow.  J.  and  D.  were 
assisted  by  the  guides  on  foot,  it  being  too  steep 
for  the  horses ;  in  fact,  they  were  often  compelled 
to  sit  down  and  rest,  finding  the  violent  exertion, 
of  struggling  against  both  wind  and  snow,  quite 
too  much  for  them.  I  do  not  think  that  we  shall 
attempt  a  snow-peak  again,  it  is  so  fatiguing.  In 
some  places,  we  passed  over  a  path  barely  three 
feet  wide,  with  a  descent  on  one  side  of  from  two 
to  three  thousand  feet,  which  produced  a  rigidity 
of  muscles  and  stiffness  of  hair  which  was  decid 
edly  unpleasant!  A  slip  of  the  foot  would  have 
made  pap  of  us  for  Swiss  babies  in  an  instant ! 

From  Vevay  to  Sion  we  went  by  rail,  but  so 
slowly,  we  were  able  to  enjoy  the  beautiful  scen 
ery  by  which  we  were  surrounded,  the  quaint 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  57 

towers  and  curiously-dressed  people.  At  Sion, 
we  hired  an  open  carriage,  in  which  we  travelled 
to  Visp.  As  we  left  the  town,  the  sun  was  sink 
ing  slowly  in  the  west,  and  the  view,  as  we  looked 
back,  was  most  beautiful  and  picturesque.  On 
two  hills,  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  were  two 
ancient  castles  of  the  Middle  Ages,  rising  high 
against  the  glowing  heavens,  the  sun's  rays  pass 
ing  through  their  battered  and  crumbling  walls, 
and  the  town  below  lost  in  the  deep  shadows  cast 
by  their  towering  forms. 

On  our  way,  we  overtook  a  friend  of  our  driver 
—  a  merry  Dutchman  —  who  mounted  the  box, 
with  our  permission,  and  went  with  us  for  some 
miles.  During  his  stay,  he  regaled  us  with  some 
of  the  national  airs,  which  he  howled  in  the  most 
atrocious  manner,  "  making  night  hideous."  On 
leaving  us,  he  insisted  upon  our  tasting  his  wine, 
a  keg  of  which  he  carried  in  his  arms.  Finding 
it  useless  to  deny  him,  as  he  still  persisted  in 
offering  it,  we  each  took  a  draught  at  the  bung- 
hole,  the  generous  Dutchman  giving  the  same 
a  graceful  wipe  with  his  shirt-sleeve,  as  he  passed 
it  from  one  to  the  other.  We  laughed  so  heartily 
we  could  scarcely  get  it  down,  but  it  made  him 
happy,  and  he  went  on  his  way  rejoicing. 

We  passed  the  night  in  a  dismal  inn  near  a 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


pretty  chalet,  of  which  I  send  you  a  sketch.     In 
the  morning,  took  horses  and  guides  for  Zermatt, 


^TJ^^KW 

---  v^*^:;  -^*-~;-~ 

.  ->*^*X-3»<        ;;-.  ,_ 

'      S--     -=*      -,      ~—'-~     <"X»  '   '/•••*?• 


where  we  remained  three  days,  ascended  to  the 
Riffelberg  and  Corner  Grat,  returned  to  Visp,  and 
found  the  driver,  who  had  brought  us  from  Sion, 
hovering  about  the  inn,  hoping  that  we  would 
ree'ngage  him,  which  we  did,  and  so  journeyed 
on  through  the  lovely  Rhone  Valley,  to  the 
Glacier  which  is  the  source  of  the  river  Rhone. 
Everywhere  in  the  fields,  we  saw  women  busily  at 
work,  making  hay  and  carrying  enormous  loads 
of  it  to  the  barns,  being  really  treated  as  beasts 
of  burden,  for  horses  are  rarely  used  by  the  farm 
ers.  The  villages  are  extremely  filthy,  and  the 
women  villainously  ugly ;  nearly  all  who  are  over 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 


59 


forty  years  of  age,  are  afflicted  with  the  goitre, 
which  increases 
their  charms,  — 
many  of  them, 
too,  are  idiotic. 
English  or  Amer 
icans  are  contin 
ually  turning  up 
on  the  road,  —  the 
Englishman  gen 
erally  on  foot, 
with  knapsack  on 
his  back  and  an 
Alpine  stock  in 
his  hand  —  some 
times  accompa 
nied  by  ladies. 

At  the  Rhone 
Glacier  we  again 
mounted  horses, 
and  proceeded  by 

the  Grimsel  Pass  (a  Grim-sell  we  found  it!)  to 
this  place,  where,  in  a  most  comfortable  hotel,  we 
are  resting  for  a  few  days.  We  passed  the  night 
before  last  at  a  wretched  half-way  house,  where 
the  fleas  were  so  thick  that,  after  I  had  turned  in, 
I  fancied  myself  a  pincushion  into  which  some 


60  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

one  was  sticking  pins  in  various  patterns  and  on 
both  sides,  occasionally  varying  the  composition 
and  doing  it  all  over  again !  Meiringen,  where 
we  now  are,  lies  in  a  valley  surrounded  with 
wooded  mountains  and  overshadowed  by  snowy 
peaks.  There  is,  apparently,  no  outlet  from  the 
valley,  and  on  all  sides  we  see  fine  cascades  leap 
ing  down  precipices,  or  gushing  from  some  half- 
hidden  gorge.  Occasionally  they  illuminate  the 
Falls  of  Reichenbach  with  colored  lights,  which 
has  a  remarkably  beautiful  effect 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  6 1 


MUNICH,   October  2. 

A  FEW  days  ago,  we  finished  Switzerland, 
^^  having  visited  many  places  of  interest; 
among  them,  the  celebrated  Baths  of  Pfeffers,  a 
most  remarkable  and  beautiful  gorge,  through 
which  a  stream  flows  from  springs  of  hot  water. 
On  our  way  to  this  place,  while  passing  through 
the  valley  of  the  Rhine  below  Lake  Constance, 
we  saw  many  of  those  ruined  castles  of  which 
merely  a  tower  or  two  remains,  they  having  been 
destroyed  by  the  peasants,  who,  no  longer  able  to 
bear  the  oppression  of  their  owners,  the  "  barons 
bold,"  drove  out  or  killed  them,  and  pulled  their 
strongholds  to  pieces.  One  of  these  ruins,  the 
Castle  of  Wartau,  was  particularly  impressive  and 
fine,  as  I  saw  it,  at  twilight,  on  the  side  of  a  lofty 
mountain,  cutting  gloomily  and  sharp  against  the 
fading  horizon.  Of  course  each  of  these  ruins 
has  its  legend ;  one  was  pointed  out  to  us  as  hav 
ing  once  been  occupied  by  a  Huguenot,  who  was 
in  France  during  the  frightful  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  but  succeeded  in  escaping  to  his 
castle  on  the  Rhine,  where  he  was  met  by  his 


62  SKETCHES   ABROAD 

nephew,  who,  for  some  reason,  murdered  him. 
Having  been  persecuted  on  account  of  his  re 
ligion,  he  was  regarded  as  a  saint,  and  his 
embalmed  body  is  still  shown  in  a  neighboring 
church. 

From  Ragatz  we  drove  to  Coire,  to  visit  an 
ancient  cathedral,  where,  among  many  singular 
relics,  we  saw  the  skulls  of  St.  Lucius  and  St. 
Martin, — of  the  first  and  second  centuries,  —  with 
jeweled  crowns  upon  them  and  precious  stones 
in  the  sockets  of  the  eyes !  Also,  an  autograph 
of  St.  Carlo  Borromeo,  and  a  crystal  crucifix,  with 
the  figure  in  silver,  said  to  have  been  presented 
by  him.  The  oldest  part  of  the  building  dates 
as  far  back  as  the  eighth  century,  and  is  very 
curious.  Besides  this  cathedral  and  the  Episco 
pal  Palace,  there  is  nothing  else  to  interest  the 
traveller  in  this  little  town.  We  returned  to 
Ragatz  late  in  the  afternoon,  and  all  combined  to 
make  it  a  drive  long  to  be  remembered  ;  the 
beautiful  valley  with  the  hills  crowned  by  ruined 
castles,  on  one  side  of  us  thrown  out  in  broad 
relief  against  the  evening  sky  tinged  with  the 
glowing  rays  of  the  setting  sun,  and  on  the  other, 
half  lost  in  the  deep-gathering  shadows  of  twi 
light  ;  while  groups  of  peasants  following  their 
tired  teams  as  they  returned  from  labor  in  the 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 


fields,  added  all  that  was  necessary  to  complete 
the  picture. 

We  are  now  in  Munich  at  the  Englischer  Hof. 
The  buildings,  both  public  and  private,  are  ex 
tremely  handsome  ;  the  streets  broad,  clean,  and, 
just  now,  full  of  military  men,  —  the  officers  the 
finest  looking  and  most  gentlemanly  body  of  men 
I  ever  saw. 

On  Sunday  morning,  we  went  to  the  Cathedral 
to  hear  military  mass,  and,  although  the  music 
was  very  fine,  the  crowd  was  so  great  we  were 

glad  to  leave,  having 
stood  until  we  were 
tired.  At  one  of  the 
altars  we  saw  this 
priest,  who  was  mak 
ing  the  most  grotesque 
contortions  of  face  as 
he  prayed,  without,  ap 
parently,  uttering  the 
slightest  sound.  On 
our  way  out,  we  stopped 
in  a  side  chapel,  which 

contained  the  bones  of  all  the  saints,  —  if  you  be 
lieve  the  inscriptions  written  thereon,  —  adorned 
with  jewels  and  artificial  flowers,  or  set  in  cases 
of  gold  and  mother-of-pearl.  Whilst  we  were  ex- 


64 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


amining  this  wonderful  collection,  men,  women, 
and  children  of  all  classes  were  coming  and  going, 
prostrating  themselves  before  the  image  of  the 
Virgin,  or  kneeling  at  the  door  with  their  rosaries, 


as  if  not  worthy  to  approach  nearer ;  one,  a 
peasant  of  the  rudest  type,  completely  awed  by 
the  wonderful  things  he  saw  around  him,  crept 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  65 

slowly  about,  looking  to  the  right  and  left  in 
wonder  and  amazement. 

On  Monday  we  visited  the  Glyptothek,  a  splen 
did  building  erected  by  King  Ludwig  in  1816,  for 
an  art  gallery,  to  contain  the  works  of  both 
ancient  and  modern  sculptors.  We  saw  there 
some  of  the  finest  antiques,  the  Sleeping  Fawn 
and  Silenus  and  Bacchus,  etc. 

In  the  old  Pinacothek,  —  which  is  filled  with 
the  works  of  the  Old  Masters,  -  -  I  passed  many 
delightful  hours.  One  large  room  is  hung  with 
Rubens'  works  alone.  These  fine  productions 
show  his  great  mastery  in  color  and  composi 
tion,  perhaps,  more  than  any  other  collection  of 
his  pictures  in  Europe.  His  "  Falling  Angels  "  is 
a  marvelous  work,  and  his  portraits  are  painted 
with  great  force  and  freedom.  Here  are,  also,  a 
number  of  Rembrandts,  with  many  pictures  of  the 
earliest  German  and  Italian  painters,  —  a  perfect 
herd  of  Saints  and  Madonnas,  with  the  usual 
golden  plate  attached  to  the  back  of  the  head. 
The  quaint  and  curious  efforts  of  these  Pre- 
Raphaelite  artists,  —  the  darlings  of  Ruskin  and 
his  followers,  —  are  certainly  most  extraordinary ! 
Figures  frozen  in  eternal  prayer  or  adoration, 
and  clothed  in  draperies  of  tin  ;  forms  meagre 
and  wretched,  scattered  over  the  canvas  like 

9 


66  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

tombstones  in  a  churchyard,  and  quite  as  depress 
ing  ;  puppets  stopped,  by  an  unexpected  hitch  in 
their  wires,  in  half-expressed  action,  with  a  back 
ground  composed  of  a  castle  or  other  ancient 
edifice,  and  trees  of  a  most  toy-like  and  innocent 
design,  all  scrambling  into  the  foreground,  regard 
less  of  perspective,  and  perching  upon  the  shoul 
ders  or  head  of  some  worthy  saint,  who  seems  to 
be  quite  unconscious  of  the  fact.  Some  of  the 
heads  do,  indeed,  possess  a  certain  purity  and 
earnestness  of  expression,  and  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  a  few  of  their  works  display  an  effect  of 
color  which  is  pleasing.  These  men  were  great 
in  their  day,  because  there  was  no  better  art  then 
existing.  They  were  the  sincere  and  earnest  pio 
neers  of  that  higher  art,  which  rose  in  all  its 
power  and  magnificence  in  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries,  —  works  that  astonished 
and  delighted  their  own  and  all  succeeding  gen 
erations,  such  as  those  of  Titian,  Veronese,  Van 
dyke,  and  Rembrandt ;  pictures  composed  in  the 
highest  style  of  art,  splendid  in  color,  grand  and 
comprehensive  in  design.  To  assert  that  the 
works  of  the  Pre-Raphaelites  are  equal  to  those 
of  the  men  I  have  mentioned,  is  simply  prepos 
terous,  and  like  claiming  for  the  inventor  of  the 
tea-kettle  a  creative  genius  as  great  as  that  of 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 


67 


Watt,  who,  from  the  hint  it  gave  him,  produced 
the  steam-engine. 

It  is  surprising  to  see  the  use  made  of  dogs  in 
Germany.  They  are  not  allowed  to  idle  about, 
but  are  obliged  to  work  hard.  They  are  attached 
to  small  carts  with  a  harness  like  that  on  the 


horses,  and  are  frequently  assisted  by  women, 
who  here,  as  in  Switzerland,  seem  to  do  the 
heaviest  work. 

We  have  been  to  the  new  Pinacothek,  where 
only  the  works  of  the  modern  German  artists  are 


68 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


to  be  seen,  with  the  exception  of  a  few,  one  of 
which,  Wilkie's  "  Reading  the  Will,"  struck  me  as 
the  best  in  the  whole  collection.  It  is  beautiful  in 
every  respect,  and  will  hold  its  own  anywhere, 
while  the  works  of  the  Germans  fell  below  my  ex 
pectations,  being  poor  in  color  and  painted  in  a 
smooth  and  feeble  style,  which  seems  but  boy's 
work  after  Rubens.  In  design  they  are  forcible  and 
often  fine,  particularly  the  works  of  Kaulbach, 
who  is,  perhaps,  the  finest  composer  of  the  day. 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL. 


69 


NUREMBERG,  October  6. 
E  have  been  some  days  enjoy 
ing  this  most  curious  and 
interesting  city.  We  came 
in  the  slow  train  from  Mu 
nich,  which,  though  exceed 
ingly  tedious,  gave  me  a 
chance  of  sketching  a  few 
of  the  peculiar  costumes,  as 
we  passed  along.  I  com 
menced  with  an  official  at 

the  Munich  station,  who  was  quite  distingue  in 
appearance,  and  very  courteous  in  manner.  At 
Augsburg,  there  were  several  peasants  dressed, 
evidently,  in  their  very  peculiar  "  best,"  for  a  jour 
ney,  while  all  along  the  road,  we  saw  men  work 
ing  in  the  fields  in  picturesque  attire  —  small 
clothes  and  cocked  hats  ;  also  a  boy  in  the  same 
style  of  dress,  driving  a  flock  of  geese  with  a 
whip.  These,  and  many  other  interesting  groups, 
kept  us  constantly  on  the  qui  vive. 

I  have  been  making  a  drawing,  from  my  win 
dow,  of  an  old  tower  and  a  bridge  over  which,  in 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


former  times,  prisoners  were  taken  to  execution, 
and  which  was,  for  that  reason,  called  "  The 
Bridge  of  Death."  Mr.  Wheeler,  our  Consul 

here,  very  kindly  took 
us  to  the  oldest  parts 
of  the  city,  and  showed 
us  the  interior  of  one 
or  two  old  palaces  ; 
also,  some  dungeons 
below  the  city  walls,  in 
which  were  shown 
various  instruments  of 
torture  used  as  late  as 
the  early  part  of  the 
present  century.  The 
most  detestable  among 
them,  was  the  Jung- 
frau,  a  female  figure 
made  of  iron  having  a 
hollow  body,  which 
opened  in  the  middle 

so  as  to  admit  the  person  to  be  executed.  The 
inside  of  this  infernal  machine  is  covered  with 
long,  sharp,  iron  spikes,  so  arranged  as  to  enter 
gradually  the  vital  parts  of  the  unfortunate  wretch 
within,  who  thus  died,  by  inches,  a  most  frightful 
death.  In  one  apartment  of  the  old  castle  is  col- 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  7  I 

lected  an  endless  variety  of  the  most  extraordinary 
and  fiendish  inventions  you  can  conceive.  I 
was  particularly  interested  in  a  number  of  two- 
handed  swords  used  for  beheading ;  among  them, 
that  of  the  public  executioner  of  Nuremberg, 
which  had  decapitated  three  hundred  persons ; 
we  also  saw  the  books  in  which  all  the  executions 
have  been  recorded  from  the  year  1575.  One  of 
the  most  frightful  things  in  this  gallery  of  hor 
rors,  was  the  head  of  a  woman  who  had  been 
executed  for  child-murder,  —  somewhere  about 
the  year  1702,  I  think,  —  the  record  of  whose 
punishment  was  pointed  out  to  us  by  the  guide. 
An  iron  spike  was  driven  through  the  head,  to 
the  scalp  of  which,  the  hair  still  clung  ! 

In  one  of  the  most  public  parts  of  the  city, 
stands  a  fine  bronze  statue  of  Albert  Durer,  the 
"  Evangelist  of  Art,"  who  here  lived  and  labored ; 
his  house,  also,  is  not  far  distant,  as  well  as  that 
of  Hans  Sacns,  the  "cobbler  bard."  We  saw  in 
the  fine  church  of  St.  Lawrence,  the 

,     .     .     "  Fix  of  sculpture  rare, 

Like  the  foamy  sheaf  of  fountains,  rising  through  the  painted 
air." 

Whichever  way  we  turned,  we  were  constantly 
reminded  of  Longfellow's  beautiful  poem,  and 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


I  need  not  add,  quoted  it  on  every  occasion.  I 
will  finish  this  letter  with  a  sketch  of  the  curious, 
conical-roofed  towers  of  the  city  walls,  whose 
singular  architecture  I  think  will  interest  you. 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL. 


73 


BADEN  BADEN,  October  21. 
INCE  my  last  letters,  we  have 
passed  through  Frankfort  and 
Heidelberg,  stopping  a  day  or 
two  at  each.  Frankfort  is  a  beau 
tiful  city ;  we  saw  there  the  house 
from  the  window  of  which  Lu 
ther  addressed  the  people  before 
his  journey  to  Worms.  It  is  de 
lightful  to  see  the  respect  the 
people  of  Europe  have  for  their 
great  men  who  have  made  their 
cities  famous  :  everywhere  you 
see  statues,  of  bronze  or  marble, 
erected  to  them  in  the  principal 
streets  ;  in  Nuremberg,  a  fine  one  to  Albert  Dlir- 
er ;  in  Munich,  one  to  Schiller ;  in  Frankfort,  one 
to  Schiller,  and  another  to  Goethe ;  while  on  the 
front  of  houses  once  occupied  by  eminent  per 
sons,  inscriptions  are  placed,  recording  the  fact, 
together  with  the  dates  of  their  births  and  deaths. 
I  fear  it  will  be  a  long  time  before  we  shall  arrive 
at  this  degree  of  civilization.  The  driver  of  your 


10 


74  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

carriage  points  out  to  you,  with  pride,  the  house 
where  such  a  famous  poet,  painter,  or  man  of  sci 
ence  lived  ;  everything  that  once  belonged  to 
them  is  preserved  and  shown. 

From  Frankfort  we  went  to  Heidelberg,  and 
put  up  at  the  Prince  Charles  Hotel,  where,  as 
soon  as  I  reached  my  room,  I  looked  from  my 
window  for  the  famous  castle,  and  there  it  stood 
grandly  appearing  above  the  housetops,  on  a  high 
hill  behind  the  city.  Soon  after  our  arrival,  we 
took  a  carriage,  and  drove  along  the  banks  of  the 
Neckar,  to  the  celebrated  ruins,  but  drove  first  to 
the  Molkencur,  which  is  a  short  distance  just 
above  the  castle,  for  a  higher  point  of  view.  This 
is  a  small-public  house,  situated  on  an  eminence 
overlooking  the  valley  for  a  great  distance.  Un 
der  the  trees  about  the  house,  were  placed  seats 
for  the  accommodation  of  visitors,  who  were 
always  expected  to  partake  either  of  German 
beer  or  goats'  milk  whey  ;  we  chose  the  former, 
and,  whilst  enjoying  it,  feasted  our  eyes  on  the 
exquisite  view  which  lay  beneath  us.  The  girl 
who  waited  upon  us  was  a  beauty,  and  spoke 
English  with  a  most  delicious  accent.  In  the 
sitting-room,  she  showed  me  a  number  of  balls 
and  exploded  shells,  which  had  been  thrown  into 
the  castle  during  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  We 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  75 

then  descended  to  the  castle,  and  drove  through 
the  grand  entrance,  the  sharp  teeth  of  the  port 
cullis  suspended  above  us.  The  building  covers 
a  large  extent  of  ground  ;  the  oldest  part  was 
built  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  the  last  additions 
were  made  in  the  sixteenth.  It  is  a  magnificent 
pile,  and,  while  wandering  through  its  many  an 
tique  apartments,  we  stopped  in  one  vast,  under 
ground  room,  which  contained  several  suits  of 
armor,  old  and  battered  swords, —  one,  two-hand 
ed,  eaten  away  by  rust,  —  bits,  spurs,  cross-bows  ; 
also  farming  implements,  all  of  a  past  age  ;  they 
had  been  picked  up,  at  various  times,  in  and  about 
the  castle.  The  gloom  of  this  ancient,  vaulted 
apartment,  with  the  groups  of  arms  and  armor 
indistinctly  seen,  as  they  stood  or  hung  against 
the  wall,  taken  in  connection  with  the  fame  and 
history  of  the  place,  was  most  impressive,  and 
moved  me  like  a  symphony  of  Beethoven.  The 
girl  next  took  us  to  the  chapel,  which  contained 
a  crucifix,  altar,  and  stained  glass  windows ;  in 
the  centre  stands  a  bronze  statue  of  some  early 
Elector ;  then  to  the  cellar,  where  is  kept  the 
Great  Heidelberg  Tun,  which,  in  olden  time,  held 
sixty  thousand  gallons  of  wine  ;  near  it,  against 
the  wall,  leans  the  figure  of  Perkeo,  court-jester  to 
the  Elector,  Charles  Philip,  —  a  very  ugly  fellow, 


76 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


with  a  nose  like  a  crab's  claw.  Our  last  visit  was 
to  the  Terrace,  where  we  had  a  splendid  view  of 
the  River  Neckar  and  town  below,  with  a  bit  of 
the  Rhine  in  the  distance.  To  give  you  an  idea 
of  the  immense  strength  of  the  castle,  the  walls, 
in  the  oldest  part,  are  twenty  feet  thick. 


A  fair  was   being  held    in  the  town,  and   the 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  77 

street,  in  front  of  our  hotel,  was  filled  with  booths 
and  long  strings  of  market-women,  standing  along 
the  curbstone,  selling  butter,  eggs,  etc.  I  saw  one 
old  woman  with  a  live  goose  under  her  arm,  with 
its  unlucky  head  looking  out  behind  in  a  wretched 
and  melancholy  manner;  he  was  tough,  poor 
devil,  for  nobody  bid  for  him.  In  one  of  the 
booths,  I  saw  a  man  taking  a  photograph  of  a 
ponderous  Dutch  girl  with  a  "  pleasant  expres 
sion";  in  another,  two  "Natives  of  Borneo"  in 
very  light  drapery,  the  woman  dancing  and  the 
man  flourishing  a  club  as  big  as  his  own  body, 
etc.  Punch  and  Judy  were  also  on  exhibition, 
with  those  remarkable  jerks  in  their  backs  and 
legs  for  which  that  venerable  couple  have  always 
been  distinguished.  I  saw  only  a  few  of  the  stu 
dents,  who  wear  small  caps  of  different  colors,  to 
designate  the  different  clubs  to  which  they  belong. 
The  university  is  a  large  building,  with  nothing 
remarkable  in  its  appearance. 

The  next  morning,  we  started  for  Baden  Baden, 
-  one  of  the  watering-places  of  Europe,  —  and 
reached  it  at  noon.  The  season  being  nearly 
over,  there  were  very  few  at  the  hotel ;  in  fact,  the 
town  was  nearly  deserted.  In  the  afternoon,  we 
drove  to  the  Castle  of  Hohen-Baden,  and  in  the 
evening,  wandered  out  in  search  of  the  famous 


7§  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

gambling-house  or  Kursaal,  where  everybody  goes 
of  high  and  low  degree,  though,  of  course,  all  do 
not  gamble.  We  were  attracted  by  hearing 
sounds  of  music  issuing  from  a  large  building, 
into  which  people  were  passing.  Supposing  it  a 
concert,  and,  being  full  of  the  spirit  of  adventure, 
we  also  entered,  and  were  quite  surprised  to  find 
no  charge  made.  Whilst  we  were  listening  to  the 
music,  we  observed  several  persons  passing  quietly 
into  a  room  at  the  back  of  the  one  in  which  we 
were  seated,  whereupon  I  suggested  to  the  Pro 
fessor  that  we  might  explore,  and  found,  as  I  ex 
pected,  the  gambling  going  on  in  the  said  apart 
ment,  the  music  evidently  being  the  bait  for  the 
hook  beyond.  The  game  was  "  Rouge  et  Noir," 
and  round  a  long  table  sat,  close  together,  men 
and  women  betting  on  the  red  and  black  ;  four 
bankers  sat  in  the  middle,  two  on  each  side,  rak 
ing  the  money  in  or  out,  as  luck  changed.  Piles 
of  gold  and  silver  were  in  front  of  them ;  there 
was  no  talking,  —  all  was  quiet.  Behind  those  at 
table  stood  many  more,  one  of  whom  would  oc 
casionally  bet.  A  man  in  front  of  me  lost,  in  five 
minutes,  a  very  large  sum  of  money,  and  a  girl  — 
a  lady  —  all  she  had  with  her.  A  large  propor 
tion  of  those  at  the  tables,  were  old  ladies  of  sixty 
or  seventy  years  of  age.  Nobody  blew  his  or  her 


WITH  PEN  AND    PENCIL.  79 

brains  out,  or  cut  his  or  her  throat,  —  there  was 
nothing  dramatic  ;  some  faces  wore  an  intense 
and  earnest  expression,  but  no  one  spoke ;  the 
only  instance  of  distress  I  saw,  was  that  of  a 
young  girl,  alone  in  a  side-room,  in  a  rather  wilted 
condition,  sitting  doubled  up  upon  a  chair,  - 
poor  thing !  she,  no  doubt,  could  have  told  a  sad 
story. 

The  city  is  a  very  beautiful  one,  with  fine  walks 
and  drives  in  and  about  it.  To-day,  though  Sun 
day,  many  of  the  shops  are  open,  and  a  fine  band 
of  music  is  playing,  in  front  of  the  Kursaal,  the 
most  profane  of  operatic  airs.  If  it  be  a  crime  to 
have  music  of  this  character  on  Sunday,  all 
Europe  will  certainly  go  to  the  d—  —1,  for  Sun 
day  is  here  the  liveliest  of  days. 


8o  SKETCHES  ABROAD 


AMSTERDAM,   October  29. 

A  FTER  leaving  Baden  Baden,  we  went  to 
*^  Strasburg,  and  the  next  morning,  walked  to 
the  famous  Cathedral,  which  is  within  a  short 
distance  from  our  hotel.  We  were  a  little  disap 
pointed,  and  found  it  less  interesting  than  many 
of  those  in  England.  The  astronomical  clock  is 
a  most  remarkable  effort  of  mechanical  genius, 
but,  as  Murray  describes  it,  I  shall  say  no  more. 

After  seeing  the  Cathedral,  we  went  to  the 
Church  of  St.  Thomas,  built  in  the  eleventh  cen 
tury,  and  while  there,  were  shown  two  bodies,  a 
Count  of  Nassau-Saarbrlicken,  and  his  daughter, 
who  had  died  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago, 
and  were  "  still  in  their  habits  as  they  lived  ;  "  the 
lady  in  a  rich  blue  silk  and  lace,  with  artificial 
flowers  on  her  head,  a  bit  of  evergreen  in  her  belt, 
and  rings  on  her  fingers.  The  grinning  skull,  the 
hands  still  covered  with  the  muscles,  and  the 
parchment-like  skin,  were  disgusting,  though  in 
teresting.  The  Count  was  in  a  much  better  state 
of  preservation,  and  was  not  much  changed,  con 
sidering  the  great  age  of  the  body.  He  wore  a 


mrnvr, 
li 


"V 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  8 1 

coat  of  brown  cloth,  with  long  stockings,  high- 
heeled  shoes,  and  buff  gloves  or  gauntlets,  reach 
ing  to  his  elbows.  The  bodies  are  placed  in  boxes 
covered  with  glass. 

After  leaving  Strasburg,  we  travelled  to  May- 
ence,  where  we  passed  the  night,  and  the  next 
morning  took  the  boat,  to  go  down  the  far-famed 
Rhine.  The  day  was  lovely,  and  the  trip  one  of 
the  most  interesting  we  have  had.  We  were  quite 
charmed  with  the  picturesque  towns,  and  castle 
after  castle,  on  both  sides  of  the  river.  There  was 
the  "  Mouse  Tower  "  of  Bishop  Hatto,  of  which 
I  made  a  sketch,  and  another  of  the  Castle  of 
Ehrenfels,  just  above  it.  Then  Rhinestein  on  the 
left,  and  the  Castles  of  the  Two  Brothers  beyond, 
with  twenty  more  besides. 

In  the  middle  of  the  river,  built  upon  a  rock, 
stands  Pfalzgrafen stein  (devilish  tough  word  that), 
a  very  singular  building,  of  an  early  date.  Here 
I  made  another  sketch,  —  a  flying  shot,  —  and 
bagged  but  little  of  it,  as  the  boat  moved  too 
rapidly. 

About  three  o'clock  we  had  a  nice  dinner, 
served  to  us  on  deck,  and  two  friends,  whom  we 
met  on  board,  helped  us  to  dispatch  it. 

As  evening  approached,  the  moon  rose,  and  its 
"splendor  fell  on  castle  walls,"  the  Drachenfels 


82  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

being  the  most  conspicuous.  Think  of  seeing 
the  Rhine  by  moonlight ! 

We  reached  Cologne  about  nine  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  and  went  on  the  next  day,  to  the  Cathe 
dral,  which  we  found  looking  rather  unfinished,  — 
you  know  it  never  has  been  finished,  —  having 
only  one  small  spire  in  the  middle.  As  we  ap 
proached  it,  we  were  beset  on  all  s'des  by  guides, 
who  wanted  us  to  engage  them  to  show  us  the 
city.  One  fellow  kept  following  us,  and  turning 
up  suddenly  in  the  most  unexpected  places,  com 
ing  down  in  price  at  each  reappearance.  We  told 
him  we  would  place  him  in  the  hands  of  the 
police,  if  he  showed  himself  again,  after  which,  he 
vanished. 

In  the  Church  of  St.  Ursula,  we  saw  the  bones 
of  the  eleven  thousand  virgins,  ingeniously  ar 
ranged  round  the  walls  in  all  sorts  of  devices,  and 
covered  with  glass. 

Our  next  stopping-place  was  Dusseldorf,  where 
we  saw  a  number  of  pictures  of  the  present  Ger 
man  school,  some  of  which  are  excellent.  We 
stayed  but  a  day  at  Dusseldorf,  then  went  by  rail 
to  Amsterdam,  which  is  certainly  a  very  singular 
old  town,  most  of  the  streets  having  a  canal  run 
ning  through  the  middle,  as,  of  course,  you  know. 

I  have  seen  but  few  of  the  heavy,  broad-backed 
Dutchmen  of  whom  Irving  speaks.  Some  of  the 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL. 


women  have  very  singular  head-dresses,  and  the 
fishermen  are  queerly  rigged  in  baggy  breeches, 
reaching  only  to  the  knee,  and  stove-pipe  hats  — 
the  combination  producing  a  perfectly  absurd 
effect.  The  natives  seem  to  think  us  quite  as 
amusing  as  we  do  them,  following  us  and  watch 
ing  every  movement. 
This  morning,  we 
visited  several  galler 
ies,  all  of  which  con 
tained  more  or  less 
admirable  pictures, 
which  we  enjoyed 
hugely,  but  have  not 
now  time  to  specify. 
We  were  very  much 
amused,  in  one  room, 
with  an  artist  who 
was  busily  engaged 
in  making  a  copy 
of  a  small  Dutch 
picture.  It  appeared 
to  be  an  immense 
effort  for  him,  as,  while 

putting  in  the  finer  touches,  he  seemed  to  balance 
himself  with  his  tongue,  which  protruded  from 
his  mouth  like  that  of  a  boy  taking  his  first  lesson 
in  writing. 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


ANTWERP,  November  4. 
EFORE  leaving  Amsterdam,  I 
paid  a  visit  to  the  Museum, 
where  there  are  some  of  the 
finest  works  of  the  Dutch 
painters  ;  among  them,  Rem 
brandt's  "  Night  Watch," 
which  I  thought  not  equal  to 
some  others  of  his.  At  a 
private  house,  we  saw  a  fine 
collection  of  the  same  school, 
where,  in  one  room,  there  was 
a  splendid  head  by  him. 

From  Amsterdam,  we  went  to  the  Hague, 
which  is  much  more  modern  in  character  than  I 
expected  to  have  found  it.  There  is  little  that  is 
picturesque  about  it,  —  the  houses  having  a  fresh 
and  comparatively  new  look,  —  but  much  that  is 
interesting  in  the  way  of  pictures,  which  are  of 
the  highest  excellence.  Rembrandt's  "  Professor 
Tulp  lecturing  over  a  dead  body  to  his  pupils,"  is 
a  wonderful  work  for  color  and  truth  ;  the  head 
of  the  Professor  is  inimitable.  Paul  Potter's 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  85 

"  Bull "  is  also  there,  but  did  not  strike  me  as 
equal  to  its  reputation ;  wanting  effect  and  hav 
ing  a  dry  and  bald  look. 

There  are  grand  heads  by  Vandyke  and  Ru 
bens,  and  some  excellent  small  pictures,  by  the 
Dutch  masters,  whose  subjects  are  often  disgust 
ing,  but  their  art,  splendid,  their  power  of  imita 
tion  marvelous,  and  their  color  perfect. 

The  country  is  as  flat  as  a  board,  and  cut  up 
by  canals  and  ditches,  on  the  borders  of  which 
stand  innumerable  windmills,  looking  like  jolly 
Dutchmen  throwing  their  arms  about,  after  im 
bibing  much  Schnapps.  I  made  a  sketch  of  one 
of  these  fellows,  who  had  stopped  his  nonsense, 
and  held  up  his  hands  in  astonishment  at  the 
process  of  taking  his  portrait. 

After  six  hours  of  hard  travelling  by  cars  and 
steamboat,  we  found  ourselves  in  Antwerp,  where 
we  looked  for  another  picture-feast. 

Yesterday  we  paid  our  first  visit  to  the  Church 
of  St.  Jacques,  to  see  the  tomb  of  Rubens,  and 
the  picture,  painted  by  him,  which  hangs  above  it. 
It  is,  I  think,  one  of  the  finest  of  his  works,  very 
beautiful  in  color,  and  much  the  most  refined  in 
character. 

The  Church  is  one  of  the  most  elaborately 
ornamented  I  have  seen,  filled  with  statues  and 


86  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

pictures,  many  of  the  latter  by  Vandyke.  While 
in  the  Church,  we  were  shown  the  pew  which  Ru 
bens  formerly  occupied,  and  of  course,  we  all  im 
mediately  sat  in  it,  one  after  the  other,  like  chil 
dren  taking  a  bite  off  the  same  apple. 

In  the  square  near  by,  stands  his  statue  in 
bronze,  and  in  another  street,  one  of  Vandyke,  in 
marble,  both  excellent. 

This  morning  after  service,  I  went  to  the  Cathe 
dral  to  see  the  greatest  of  all  Rubens'  works, 
"  The  Descent  from  the  Cross  "  and  "  The  Eleva 
tion  of  the  Cross."  The  first  is  all  I  expected, 
a  grand  work;  the  color  rich  and  subdued,  and 
painted  with  great  force  and  effect.  The  last, 
rather  extravagant  in  drawing ;  the  head  of  Christ 
noble  in  expression  ;  to-morrow  I  shall  go  to  see 
it  again.  The  Cathedral  is  quite  near,  and  I 
hear,  at  this  moment,  its  great  bell  tolling.  It 
has  a  chime  of  ninety-nine  bells,  which  is  rung 
every  quarter  of  an  hour,  both  day  and  night.  I 
have  been  making,  from  my  window,  sketches  of 
the  people  in  the  streets,  as  they  stopped  to  talk, 
or  lounged  about :  soldiers,  porters,  market-women, 
all  in  singular  costumes.  The  chimes  have  just 
commenced  again  ;  they  sound  like  a  great  mu 
sical  box,  and  have  a  very  beautiful  tone.  .  . 

At  the  Museum,  which  contains  a  collection  of 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  87 

the  Old  Masters,  we  saw  an  artist  making  a  copy 
of  one  of  Rubens'  pictures   with   his   foot!  —  in 


this  way  —  holding  his  brush  between  his  toes, 
having  been  born  without  arms.  His  copy  was 
admirable  and  painted  with  great  freedom.  I  was 


88 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


told  that  he  writes  a  beautiful  hand,  or  rather, 
foot.  In  one  of  the  rooms,  is  the  chair  of  Rubens, 
also  his  bust  in  wood.  The  house  of  the  illustri 
ous  master  is  shown  to  visitors  and  is  large  and 
very  handsome.  He  evidently  possessed  and  en 
joyed  the  luxuries  of  life.  Many  of  the  houses 
are  quite  old  and  curious,  and  have  the  crow-foot 
gables  peculiar  to  the  Dutch  and  Flemish  towns. 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  89 


PARIS,  November  12. 

are  again  in  Paris,  which  we  reached  last 
night  about  ten  o'clock.  My  last  letter  to 
you  was  from  Antwerp ;  since  then  we  have  been 
in  Ghent,  Bruges,  and  Brussels.  At  Ghent,  we 
visited  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Bavon,  which  contains 
some  works  of  the  inexhaustible  Rubens,  who 
turns  up  everywhere,  with  his  sledge-hammer 
saints  in  red  and  blue,  —  little  refinement,  much 
muscle,  but  great  beauty  of  color.  We  also  heard 
vespers  in  the  Church  of  the  Beguinage,  which  is 
a  cluster  of  small  convents,  containing  about 
seven  hundred  nuns.  When  we  entered,  we 
found  the  good  sisters  on  their  knees,  while  the 
priests  were  chanting  in  the  chancel.  There  was 
but  little  light  in  the  church,  and  the  effect  of  the 
nuns  in  their  black  and  white  dresses,  all  motion 
less,  with  their  heads  bowed  in  prayer,  fading 
away  into  the  gloomy  background  of  the  quaint 
old  building,  was  strange  and  ghost-like.  During 
the  service,  some  of  the  nuns  rose,  took  the  white 
mantle  from  their  heads,  folded  it  up,  and  placed 
it  on  the  top  of  their  heads,  somewhat  after  the 


12 


90  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

manner  of  the  Italian  peasantry,  then  threw  the 
skirt  of  their  gowns  over  all,  knelt  a  moment  be 
fore  each  altar  as  they  passed,  and  moved  slowly 
out,  perhaps,  on  some  errand  of  mercy,  for  such  is 
their  principal  occupation.  The  next  morning, 
we  drove  about  the  city,  and  stopped  to  admire 
and  sketch  an  ancient  gate-way,  the  people  stand 
ing  round  the  carriage,  gaping  and  curious. 

Bruges  we  found  more  interesting,  being  much 
the  oldest  of  the  Flemish  towns.  There  we  saw 
the  famous  belfry,  with  its  beautiful  chimes,  the 
Palace  of  Justice,  and  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  rich 
and  fine  in  design,  but  crumbling  away,  like  old 
cheese,  from  the  effects  of  time.  In  the  Church 
of  Notre  Dame,  are  the  magnificent  tombs  — 
copper-gilt  —  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  and  his 
daughter.  He  was  in  full  armor,  and  she  in  her 
robes  of  state,  both  lying  upon  their  backs  with 
hands  together  in  prayer  —  the  action  of  all  the 
figures  on  the  tombs  of  the  Middle  Ages.  In  the 
open  square  in  front  of  the  Palace  of  Justice,  I 
saw  a  fine  old  tower,  of  which  I  made  a  drawing. 
The  costumes  of  the  people  here,  are  less  curious 
than  those  of  Amsterdam  and  the  Hague;  the 
beggars  and  guides  quite  as  annoying.  The  side 
walks  are  so  narrow  in  many  places,  that  when 
you  meet  any  one  either  he  or  you  must  step  off, 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  9 1 

in  order  to  pass.  The  odors  are  somewhat  start 
ling  in  all  these  towns  —  quite  foreign  and  not  at 
all  American. 

There  is  a  great  charm  in  these  old  cities  that 
constantly  brings  "  Froissart's  Chronicles  "  to  your 
memory.  I  should  like  every  house  to  be  of  the 
twelfth  century  at  least,  with  the  people  in  the 
queer,  old  costumes  of  the  time.  Occasionally,  a 
few  knights  appearing  suddenly  round  the  corner, 
followed  by  others  charging  them  from  the  rear 
with  their  long  lances,  or  smiting  them  with  mace 
or  battle-axe  ;  the  people,  meanwhile,  pegging 
away  at  them  with  cross-bows,  from  the  windows 
of  the  houses,  or  ornamenting  them,  from  the 
roofs,  with  hot  pitch.  Here,  a  gallant  knight  on 
foot,  attacked  by  numbers,  cutting  down  a  man 
with  each  sweep  of  his  two-handed  sword  ;  there, 
another  unhorsed  and  on  his  back,  his  foe  above 
him  brandishing  the  "  dagger  of  mercy,"  as  he 
cries,  "  Rescue,  or  no  rescue  !  yield  to  a  true 
Knight  ! "  The  fluttering  banners,  the  party 
cries,  the  men-at-arms  fighting  and  cutting  at 
each  other,  now  lost  in  a  cloud  of  dust,  now  re 
appearing  as  they  retreat  or  rally  down  the  street ! 
This  sort  of  thing  frequently  occurred  in  these 
very  streets,  and  I  should  very  much  like  to  see  it 
done  all  over  again  for  the  benefit  of  travel- 


92  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

lers  —  from  the  top  of  the  highest  chimney !  The 
modern  improvements  which  you  find  even  here, 
the  jumble  of  old  and  new,  keep  your  mind  in  a 
see-saw  condition.  After  looking  at  a  building  of 
the  ninth  or  tenth  century,  and  dreaming  of  the 
past,  then  turning  and  seeing  a  cake-shop  finished 
last  Friday,  with  a  row  of  gingerbread-twins  in 
the  window,  the  mind  falls  flat  on  its  back  into 
the  commonplace  and  practical  of  to-day. 

Brussels  is  more  like  Paris,  light  and  glittering, 
with  a  new  appearance ;  there  is,  however,  some 
thing  there  which  is  deeply  interesting ;  I  mean 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  in  front  of  which  the  Counts 
Egmont  and  Van  Horn  were  executed  ;  their 
statues  stand  on  the  spot.  Behind  these  figures, 
is  the  house  occupied  by  the  Duke  of  Alva  and 
the  window  from  which  he  saw  those  unfortunate 
noblemen  beheaded.  The  houses  built  by  the 
Spaniards  are  still  standing,  and  are  very  hand 
some. 


• 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 


93 


PARIS,  November  18. 

\  \  7E  are  now  perched  up  in  the  third  story  of 
a  French  boarding-house  in  the  Champs 
Elysees,  —  one  of  the  finest  streets  in  Paris,  - 
where  may  be  seen,  every  afternoon,  everybody 
who  can  hire,  beg,  borrow,  or  steal  a  horse  or  car 
riage.  Its  broad 
sidewalks,  shaded 
with  trees  under 
which  are  placed 
chairs  for  the  ac 
commodation  of 
the  public,  are  the 
resort  of  innume 
rable  loungers.  I 
make  it  my  walk 
every  afternoon, 
and  never  leave  it 
by  turning  a  corner, 
having  no  bump  of 
locality  and  less 
French.  I  think  of 
engaging  a  stout 
French  nurse  who  knows  English  as  well  as  Paris, 


94  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

and  would  act  as  a  guide  through  this  extraordi 
nary  city. 

By  a  rare  stroke  of  good  fortune,  I  one  day 
blundered  into  the  Louvre,  where  I,  of  course, 
enjoyed  the  pictures  prodigiously.  After  spend 
ing  several  hours  there,  I  only  managed  to  see 
about  one  fourth  of  this  immense  collection,  which 
I  hope  to  revisit  frequently  before  we  leave.  It 
appeared  to  me,  the  gallery,  as  a  whole,  was  not 
equal  to  that  of  Dresden,  though  there  are  many 
fine  pictures  by  the  best  of  the  old  masters.  The 
Murillo,  for  which  the  government  gave  $150,000, 
is  a  beautiful  work,  and  better  than  anything  I 
have  seen  by  him.  "  The  Entombment  of  Christ," 
by  Titian,  is  there;  a  glorious  picture  it  is,  and 
finely  conceived  ;  the  effect  of  the  figures,  partly 
obscured  in  the  solemn  twilight,  harmonizing 
beautifully  with  the  sentiment  of  the  subject. 
Some  of  Titian's  portraits  have  intense  individu 
ality,  and  seem  to  think.  "  The  Man  with  the 
Glove  "  is  remarkable  in  this  respect.  Rubens  is 
there  in  full  force  ;  Vandyke  also,  and  as  admi 
rable  as  ever.  "Charles  I.,"  standing  by  his  horse, 
is  one  of  the  finest  works  he  has  there.  The 
figure  of  Charles  is,  as  usual,  elegant,  and  "  every 
inch  a  king !  " 

I  saw  an  immense  number  of  artists  of  both 
sexes  copying ;  in  fact,  nearly  all  the  best  pictures 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  95 

had  somebody  in  front  of  them,  —  either  on  a  lad 
der  or  platform,  —  spoiling  much  canvas. 

The  other  night,  we  went  to  see  a  piece  called 
"  The  Frenchman  in  London,"  a  union  of  ballet 
and  farce.  It  was,  of  course,  extremely  French, 
particularly  in  the  matter  of  draperies,  which 
were  uncommonly  short  as  well  as  light.  It  was 
a  very  capital  affair,  and  well  managed  through 
out  ;  the  scenery  and  costumes  splendid  and  very 
effective,  putting  all  other  things  of  the  kind  that 
I  have  seen,  quite  in  the  background.  During 
the  performance,  several  of  the  actors,  in  costume, 
came  round  in  front  and  sat  in  a  box  next  to  the 
stage  ;  while  another  one  suddenly  appeared  in  the 
third  tier,  and  held  a  conversation  with  those  in 
the  box  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  theatre,  which 
produced  immense  fun.  Not  being  aware  that 
this  was  a  part  of  the  play,  I  was  rather  sur 
prised  ! 

On  Friday,  we  went  to  the  Luxembourg,  the 
interior  of  which  is  very  magnificent.  The  room 
once  used  by  Marie  de  Medici  is  still  as  it  was  in 
her  day ;  the  ceiling  painted  by  Rubens  and  other 
artists  of  her  time.  The  Throne-room  of  Napo 
leon  I.  is  truly  regal.  The  Picture  Gallery  con 
tains  some  of  the  best  of  the  modern  French 
school ;  among  them,  Couture 's  "  Decadence  de 
Rome  "  and  Muller's  "  Conciergerie."  .... 


96  SKETCHES  ABROAD 


PARIS,  December  17. 

T  WENT,  one  day,  with  a  friend,  to  the  Hotel 
Cluny  and  the  ficole  des  Beaux  Arts,  which 
contains  that  fine  composition  by  Delaroche, 
"  The  Hemicycle."  The  Hotel  Cluny  is,  by  far, 
the  most  interesting  place  we  have  seen  here. 
The  oldest  part  was  built  by  the  Romans,  in  the 
fourth  century,  and  the  more  modern,  in  the  thir 
teenth,  fourteenth,  and  fifteenth.  We  found  it 
filled  with  an  immense  variety  of  things  ;  such  as 
old  arms,  armor,  furniture,  china,  and  works  of  art 
of  many  periods  and  countries,  most  of  which 
are  rare  and  curious ;  also,  mantelpieces  of  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  which  are  very 
rich  and  beautiful  in  design.  There  are  several 
carriages  belonging  to  different  crowned  heads 
of  Europe ;  clothes  too,  worn  by  celebrated  men, 

-  a  cap  that  once  belonged  to  Charles  V.,  a  lace 
collar  worn  by  Henry  IV.,  etc.,  etc. 

It  may  seem  strange  to  say  that  there  is  but 
little  to  interest  in  Paris,  as  it  is  to-day ;  but  the 
fact  is,  Louis  Napoleon  has  caused  to  be  pulled 
down  and  built  up,  so  much  of  the  city,  in  his 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  97 

great  desire  to  improve  it,  that  it  now  contains 
less  to  remind  you  of  the  past,  perhaps,  than  any 
other  city  of  its  size,  in  Europe..  In  this,  I  am 
sure,  all  lovers  of  antiquity  will  agree  with  me.  I 
say,  with  "  Leatherstocking,"  "  D—  — n  your  bet 
terments."  The  little  German  town  of  Nuremburg 
is  worth  a  dozen  of  this  great  efty  in  point  of  in 
terest  and  picturesque  beautyr  and  possesses  a 
strong  flavor  of  the  past,  that  is  charming ;  mak 
ing  you  feel  while  walking  i'ru  its  streets,  as  if  you 
were  living  in  the  Middle  Ages,  Here  everything 
reminds  you  of  to-day,  and  ta-day  only ;  it  is 
shop,  not  history.  The  effect  of  the  city  is  very 
brilliant  and  painfully  new  -  -  New  York  on  a 
grand  scale.  You  look  in  vain  for  those  fine  old 
mouldering  "  bits"  like  Kenilworth  or  Heidelberg 
Castle,  etc.  In  all  this  vast  city  there  are  but  two 
or  three  buildings  remaining  that  remind  you  of 
past  ages,  and  even  those  have  been  so  changed 
and  modernized,  as  to  leave  little  to  interest  you. 
I  saw  last  week  the  tomb  of  Napoleon,  which,  in 
design,  is  simple  and  impressive  ;  we  should  have 
felt  its  solemnity  more,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
sharp  elbows  of  the  bustling  crowd  about  us. 

On  Thursday  evening,  we  went  to  a  reception 
at  the  American  Minister's,  where  we  found  the 
house    filled   with   Americans.     Dore,   the    artist, 
13 


98 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


was  also  there  ;  a  remarkably  mild  looking  young 
man  of  thirty,  or  thereabout, —  his  face  exhibiting 
no  indication  of  the  vigorous  genius  for  which  his 
works  are  so  remarkable.  There,  we  also  met 

Bulwer,  whose  abundant 
hair,  prominent  nose,  and 
excess  of  beard  and  mous 
tache,  suggested  Mephis- 
tophiles.  As  he  came  into 
the  room  only  a  minute 
before  we  left  it,  I  had  no 
opportunity  of  hearing  the 
great  man  talk.  He  stood, 
with  his  hat  in  his  hand  be 
hind  him,  so  close  to  the 
fire,  that  I  was  much  con 
cerned,  and  expected  some  one  would  have  been 
obliged  to  put  him  out.  Mis  elevated  brows  and 
staring  eyes  conveyed  the  idea. of  a  man  who  had 
been  taken  by  surprise  when  he  was  born,  and 
never  gotten  over  it. 

One  evening  we  had  an  entertainment  at  the 
house  here,  given  by  a  fellow-boarder,  and  com 
posed  of  a  mixture  of  French,  English,  and 
Americans  —  thus  :  one  live  count  and  countess, 
three  decorated  Frenchmen,  several  flimsy  young 
ladies  with  a  proper  proportion  of  young  gentle- 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  99 

men,  three  Americans,  and  a  couple  of  Scotch 
ladies.  The  flimsy  young  ladies  and  young  gen 
tlemen  danced,  while  the  count  nursed  his  hat 
upon  his  knee,  and  the  decorated  leaned  upon  the 
corners  of  the  mantelpiece,  the  Americans  look 
ing  on  as  side-dishes,  modestly  admiring.  The 
refreshments  were  composed  of  warm  water  and 
wine  (mixed),  with  feeble  cakes  of  unknown  com 
position,  very  small  and  served  rarely.  The 
music,  a  cracked  piano,  banged  to  death  by  a 
thin  Frenchman.  The  nobility  retired  with  dig 
nity,  at  an  early  hour,  and  the  mobility  at  half-past 
twelve. 

I  have  been  to  the  Louvre  several  times,  and 
strayed  about  those  great  rooms  till  my  back 
cracked.  Your  mind  becomes  so  much  interested 
in  looking  at  all  those  grand  works  of  art,  that 
you  entirely  forget  that  you  are  not  made  of  iron, 
till  you  find  yourself  suddenly  doubled  up  like  an 
empty  sack,  and  are  disgusted  to  feel  that  you 
can't  stand  it  better.  Among  the  pictures,  are 
some  of  Guido's  best  productions.  His  compo 
sition  is  often  fine,  but  his  color  crude  and  un 
pleasant.  His  u  Rape  of  Dejanira  "  is  to  me,  in 
all  respects,  the  best,  as  well  as  most  poetic,  of 
his  works  ;  the  figure  of  the  Centaur,  admirable 
both  in  character  and  drawing,  while  the  attitude 


100  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

and  expression  of  Dejanira  are  exquisitely  beau 
tiful.  Here,  too,  are  a  number  of  Rubens'  largest 
and  most  elaborate  pictures,  showing  his  immense 
power  in  composition  and  color.  He  was  a  great 
genius  without  a  sense  of  beauty  of  form  or 
poetic  sentiment  ;  he  painted  the  animal,  not 
the  intellectual,  man  ;  brawn,  not  brain,  was  his 
motto ;  he  delighted  in  flesh  and  blood.  His 
groups  of  nymphs  and  satyrs  at  their  revels,  are 
his  greatest  triumphs  —  a  reeling,  staggering 
mass  of  delicious  color,  drunk  with  its  own 
beauty. 

In  Rembrandt  you  see  the  same  peculiarity. 
His  forms  are  of  the  lowest  type  and  clothed 
with  splendor  and  richness  of  color,  but  obscured 
by  such  tremendous  depth  and  mystery  of  shad 
ow,  that  his  pictures  sometimes  become  grand 
poems,  elevated  by  the  singular  genius  of  the 
painter. 

The  "  Marriage  at  Cana,"  by  Veronese,  is  a 
miracle  of  Venetian  art,  covering  a  canvas  of 
thirty  feet  in  length  with  a  success  never  before 
achieved  on  so  grand  a  scale  ;  still,  this  is  little 
more  than  a  picture  of  effect  and  color  —  a  large 
group  of  figures,  in  gorgeous  costumes,  at  a 
banquet  in  brilliant  sunlight. 

My   last   visit   was    to    the    antique    sculpture, 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  1OI 

where  I  particularly  enjoyed  that  noble  fragment, 
the  "  Venus  de  Milo  "  -  to  my  mind  the  grandest 
ideal  of  woman  ever  conceived,  but  not,  I  think, 
at  all  suggestive  of  the  Goddess  of  love  and 
beauty.  The  form  is  too  massive  —  a  type  of  the 
highest  and  fullest  development  —  majestic,  not 
loveable. 

Last  night,  I  went,  with  some  friends,  to  the 
Grand  Bal  Masque  at  the  Opera  House,  the 
parquette  of  which  was  floored  over  for  the  oc 
casion,  and  filled  with  a  crowd  of  people  in  ex 
traordinary  costumes  of  every  description.  There 
was  a  band  of  two  hundred  musicians  playing  at 
the  extreme  back  of  the  stage.  Thousands  of 
people  were  dancing  like  fiends,  at  the  same 
moment,  each  one  trying  to  appear  and  act  as 
absurdly  as  possible ;  the  women  all  masked,  and 
many  of  them  kicking  as  high  as  their  heads, 
which  seemed  to  be  a  favorite  performance.  It 
is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  that  these  were  of  the 
lowest  class;  the  ladies  do  not  leave  the  boxes. 
The  whole  exhibition  was  both  ridiculous  and  dis 
gusting,  and  would  not  have  been  tolerated  in 
the  United  States  —  certainly  not  in  an  opera 
house. 


IO  J 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


GENOA,  December  25. 
tE  are  not,  you  see,  in  Rome 
as  we  expected  to  be,  but 
in  Genoa,  the  venerable 
and  dirty.  On  our  way 
hither,  we  stopped  one 
day  at  Marseilles  and  an 
other  at  Nice,  which  is  a 
pleasant  and  cheerful  town, 
with  a  fine,  soft  climate, 
truly  refreshing  after  the 

gloomy  skies  of  Paris.  Soon  after  our  arrival 
we  went  out  for  a  stroll.  Of  course  the  ladies 
could  not  resist  the  mania  of  their  sex  —  shop 
ping -- although  just  from  Paris,  where  you 
would  suppose  they  might  have  had  a  surfeit; 
and  would  suddenly  disappear  from  my  side, 
plunge  into  a  shop,  and  as  suddenly  reappear 
with  a  remarkable  hat  having  a  button  in  the 
centre  instead  of  a  crown,  or  a  bit  of  inlaid  wood 
work  or  some  other  curiosity  of  the  town.  The 
place  seemed  full  of  invalids  walking  about  un 
der  white  umbrellas.  When  strolling  through 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 

the  market-place,  we  saw  some  odd,  old  women 
with  peculiar,  circular  hats ;  and  a  pair  of  sleepy 
mules  on  intimate  terms  with  a  brace  of  hens, 
who  were  pecking  about  their  heels  in  a  con- 


fidential  and  friendly  way ;  these,  including  an 
ancient  female  and  child,  I  rapidly  transferred 
to  my  sketch-book.  Part  of  our  promenade  was 
on  the  roofs  of  the  houses,  which  are,  in  that 
part  of  the  city,  as  flat  as  a  floor;  from  whence 
we  had  a  glorious  view  of  the  ocean ! 

At   the   hotel,   we    met   with    a   very    pleasant 


104  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

American  family,  with  whom  we  made  arrange 
ments  to  take  a  carriage  and  drive  by  the  Cor- 
niche  road,  which  runs  the  whole  way,  to  Genoa, 
along  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  The  next 
morning,  we  started  ;  our  party  consisting  of  six, 
with  the  addition  of  a  courier  and  a  vetturino. 
The  "  courier  "  was  a  superb  creature  of  the  stout 
and  plethoric  order ;  he  had  whiskers,  he  had 
moustache,  he  had  studs  in  his  shirt,  brilliant  and 
beautiful  ;  cuff-buttons  beyond  praise.  He  was 
perfumed,  he  was  new  from  end  to  end ;  —  in  fact, 
he  was  finished  at  all  points  and  perfect  in  every 
thing —  but  his  business. 

The  drive  was  highly  interesting,  and  in  some 
places  the  scenery  grand  ;  immense  rocks  rising 
hundreds  of  feet  from  the  water's  edge,  often 
crowned  by  an  ancient  tower.  Below  us,  on  the 
beach,  we  could  see  the  picturesque  fishermen 
with  their  red  caps  and  sashes,  making  a  haul  or 
mending  their  nets ;  the  ocean  stretching  away  to 
the  right,  dotted  here  and  there  with  a  snowy 
sail.  We  constantly  passed  through  groves  of 
olive-trees,  the  people  collecting  the  fruit  from 
the  ground.  Sometimes  an  over-loaded  donkey 
would  pass  us,  with  his  panniers  of  firewood  or 
vegetables  and  fruit,  the  driver  sitting  above  all ; 
or  we  would  see  the  shepherd  in  his  coat  of  skins 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  105 

and    rough    leggings,   watching,    from    the    rocks 
above,  his  sheep  nibbling  the  short  grass. 

Beggars  were  not  wanting,  of  course,  particu 
larly  when  we  stopped  at  the  inn  to  dine.  The 
villages  are  extremely  dirty  and  very  odd  look 
ing ;  in  some  places  we  could  just  get  through 
the  narrow  streets  without  touching  the  walls 
on  either  side.  The  houses  are  three  or  four 
stones  high  —  the  windows  often  but  a  square 
hole,  from  which  smoke  issued,  there  being  no 
other  outlet  for  it.  At  some  of  the  doors  a  few 
cabbages  and  carrots,  or,  perhaps,  a  basket  of 
apples ;  at  others,  pig's  skins,  filled  with  wine,  sus 
pended  by  the  tails,  apparently  squealing  to  be  let 
down.  Here,  a  group  of  gloomy  vagabonds,  their 
shoulders  to  the  wall,  with  some  crawling  infants 
in  the  mud,  while  a  lop-eared  mule  tied  to  a  post 
balances  the  composition ;  there,  a  brown  friar, 
scanning  his  missal  from  beneath  his  cowl,  passes 
silently  through  the  lazy  crowd  —  his  sandaled 
feet,  cat-like,  giving  no  warning  of  his  presence. 
Dirt  and  strong  smells  are  everywhere  apparent. 
Our  vetturino,  anxious  to  make  a  sensation,  as  he 
entered  the  towns  cracking  his  whip,  would  force 
his  horses  to  a  gallop  and  scatter  the  good  people 
like  chaff.  Old  women  scuttled  round  the  corner ; 
dirty  children  were  seized  in  the  rear  and  jerked 
14 


10  j  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

backward  into  doorways,  while  once,  a  young  girl 
flattened  herself  against  the  wall  to  escape  the 
hub  of  the  wheel,  which  carried  off  a  yard  of 
apron.  Heads  bobbed  out  of  doors  and  windows, 
and  small  dogs  snapped  and  barked  at  the  wheels, 
while  rags  of  all  colors  fluttered  in  the  air. 

Out  again  upon  the  road,  with  the  sea  still  on 
our  right,  and  the  boats  hauled  up  on  the  shore  ; 
more  donkeys  with  their  drivers  yelling,  and  push 
ing  them  to  the  right,  in  order  to  get  out  of  the 
way.  Beggars  hobbling  after,  showering  bless 
ings  on  all  the  family,  for  the  money  they  ex 
pected  to  get,  sleek  priests  and  hooded  monks 
passing,  and  gazing  at  us  in  pious  wonder,  as  we 
drove  on,  covering  them  with  dust.  As  we  ap 
proached  some  of  the  larger  towns,  we  met  women 
covered  with  veils,  which  gave  them  a  pretty, 
modest  look. 

In  the  village  of  Cogoletto,  we  were  shown  the 
house  in  which  Columbus  was  born,  and  a  very 
forlorn,  shabby  looking  place  it  is,  with  its  back  to 
the  beach  and  its  front  on  the  filthy  street.  I 
stopped  close  by  it,  to  make  a  sketch  of  some 
mules,  with  a  crowd  of  people  about  me,  to  see 
how  I  did  it.  As  soon  as  the  owner  of  the  ani 
mals  discovered  what  I  was  about,  he  drove  them 
off,  and  left  me  staring  at  a  blank  wall  and  several 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  107 

small  boys.  In  one  town,  we  stopped  to  dine  in 
an  ancient  palace  on  a  dinner  of  birds  tasting  of 
turpentine,  sour  bread,  and  flat  wine.  The  din 
ing-room  was  about  twenty  feet  high,  with  an 
arched  ceiling  and  stone  floor;  some  of  the  old 
family  portraits  were  still  hanging  upon  the  walls. 
While  waiting  for  the  feast,  we  wandered  through 
the  old  chambers,  many  of  which  were  richly 
ornamented  with  gilding,  and  quite  elegant. 

Genoa  is  surrounded  with  ancient  fortifications, 
and  filled  with  many  palaces  and  much  dirt ;  the 
streets  —  some  so  narrow  that  you  might  nearly 
touch  both  sides  by  extending  your  arms  —  are 
crowded  with  citizens,  soldiers,  and  sailors.  Many 
of  the  shops  are  like  curious  little  dens,  dug  in 
below  the  street  and  as  contracted  as  possible, 
in  which  the  birds  of  prey  lie  in  wait  for  the  un 
wary  traveller.  Some  have  shrines  of  the  Madon 
na  over  the  door,  their  tawdry  frames  surrounded 
by  gilded  rays,  and  the  Virgin  evidently  in  the 
last  stages  of  consumption.  In  the  street  of  the 
goldsmiths,  there  is,  however,  one  —  an  oil  picture 
of  much  merit  —  which  is  considered  so  valuable 
that  it  is  enclosed  in  a  glass  case  and  an  armed 
guard  paces  continually  in  front  of  it  on  occasions 
like  this,  when,  it  being  a  Festa,  the  whole  popu- 


108  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

lation  give  themselves  up  to  idleness  and  amuse 
ment. 

We  visited  several  palaces  and  saw  some  good 
pictures,  but  none,  I  thought,  of  the  highest 
excellence.  It  was  strange  to  see  the  ancient, 
shriveled  officials  in  the  great,  dreary,  and  un 
comfortable  apartments,  shivering  over  a  brazier 
of  half-extinguished  coals  in  the  corner,  as  if  that 
was  the  business  of  their  lives  and  nothing  else, 
as  they  paid  no  attention  to  us  apparently. 

Last  night,  we  all  went  to  the  Cathedral  of  San 
Lorenzo,  to  hear  high  mass  at  midnight.  The 
building  was  grand  and  gloomy,  with  priests 
chanting  at  one  end,  and  a  crowd  of  people 
filling  the  whole.  As  soon  as  high  mass  began, 
the  chanting  ceased,  and  above  our  heads  in  the 
organ-loft  a  number  of  stringed  and  wind  instru 
ments  discoursed  most  eloquent  music  ;  about  us, 
much  garlic  and  little  piety,  with  strong  odor  of 
tobacco. 

To-day,  being  Christmas,  we  were  treated  to  a 
roasted  turkey  stuffed  with  chestnuts,  and  plum- 
pudding  for  dessert,  in  honor  of  the  Americans 
and  English  in  the  house.  I  know  you  had  better 
at  home ;  ours  was  a  melancholy  failure.  We 
thought  of  you  all  and  drank  your  healths,  sitting 
in  a  house  constructed  by  the  Knights  of  Malta ; 


r>:;'»y'/ 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 


log 


a  queer  old  place  built  upon  arches,  under  which 
runs  a  passage-way  for  pedestrians.  The  day 
after  to-morrow,  we  start  again  with  the  coach 
and  five  for  Spezzia,  from  thence  to  Pisa,  and 
from  Pisa  to  Rome  ! 


I  10  SKETCHES     ABROAD 


PISA,  December  30. 

"^HE  scene  shifts  again,  and  we  are  in  another 
of  the  strange,  old  Italian  towns,  which  is 
much  cleaner  than  the  last  we  left.  Here  are  the 
famous  Leaning  Tower,  the  Cathedral,  the  Bap 
tistery,  and  the  Campo  Santo.  The  River  Arno 
runs  directly  in  front  of  the  hotel,  and  on  the 
opposite  shore  is  a  pretty  little  Gothic  chapel 
built  for  the  benefit  of  the  sailors,  many  hundred 
years  ago.  The  Cathedral,  which  we  visited  yes 
terday,  is  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  truly  mag 
nificent.  I  went  with  L to  see  it  again,  this 

afternoon,  and  sat  watching  the  priests  preparing 
for  the  service,  each  one  dropping  upon  his  knees 
before  some  image  or  picture  of  a  saint,  as  he 
moved  through  the  vast  building ;  some  of  them, 
dressed  in  scarlet  and  white,  others,  in  black  and 
white.  It  was  very  picturesque  and  fine,  as  we 
saw  it  all  in  the  fading  light  of  the  afternoon,  and 
would  have  been  finer,  if  these  worthies  had  gone 
about  their  duties  with  less  of  a  business  air,  and 
more  earnestness  ;  they  trotted  about  and  rattled 
through  their  prayers  more  like  school-boys 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  1 1 1 

anxious  to  get  out  to  top  and  marbles,  than  men 
of  piety.  Some  ragged  little  urchins  who  seemed 
desirous  of  a  dip  into  the  holy-water  font,  which 
was  too  high  for  their  short  legs  to  reach,  made 
several  jumps  and  plunges  at  its  edge,  and  at  last 
succeeded  in  dipping  their  very  dirty  hands  and 
crossing  their  foreheads  like  good  catholics,  as 
no  doubt  they  were. 

While  we  were  looking  about  us,  the  sacristan, 
who  evidently  had  a  strong  turn  for  trade,  though 
it  was  Sunday,  came  smiling  and  bowing  to  us, 
informing  us  that  he  had  some  very  fine  photo 
graphs  of  the  city  and  its  buildings,  if  we  felt 
inclined  to  buy. 

Yesterday,  we  went  into  the  Baptistery,  which  is 
another  lovely  bit  of  antiquity,  of  the  same  period 
as  the  Cathedral,  and  stands  quite  near  it.  While 
we  were  there,  an  infant,  two  days  old,  was  brought 
in  by  its  father  for  baptism ;  the  poor  little  wretch 
looked  like  a  scalded  monkey,  which  had  already 
gone  to  the  other  world  —  the  wrong  one.  The 
priest  held  it,  face  down,  over  the  font,  and  ladled 
out  the  precious  liquid  over  its  unfortunate  head, 
to  convey,  I  suppose,  to  its  feeble  mind,  an  idea 
of  the  Deluge  ;  he  then  dabbed  it  and  rubbed  it 
well  down  with  a  napkin,  mumbled  rapidly  some 
thing  over  it,  which  sounded  like  the  buzzing  of 


112  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

moral  bees,  dropped  it  into  its  father's  arms,  and 
made  a  note  of  all  in  a  dirty  book.  Before  we 
left,  a  man  with  a  very  good  voice  told  us  we 
must  hear  the  echo,  which  is  very  remarkable 
there  ;  he  then  sang  two  or  three  notes,  the  effect 
of  which  was  perfectly  exquisite,  as  the  sound 
passed  from  one  part  of  the  building  to  another 
and  gradually  floated  away  in  waves  of  music. 
Another  individual,  who  had  followed  us  into  the 
Cathedral  as  a  sort  of  guide,  said  that  he  always 
did  the  echo,  but  did  not  like  to  when  a  priest 
was  present. 

The  Leaning  Tower,  which  is  close  by,  has,  as 
you  know,  a  very  singular  effect,  and  seems  to  be 
falling,  while  you  are  looking  at  it.  They  tell  you 
the  foundation  has  settled  on  one  side,  and  that  it 
was  not,  as  some  writers  suppose,  the  intention  of 
the  architect  to  build  it  as  it  now  appears.  The 
Campo  Santo  is  a  very  long  building,  formed  of 
arcades  surrounding  an  open  court  which  is  filled 
with  earth  brought,  many  centuries  ago,  from  the 
Holy  Land  ;  in  this  enclosure  many  noble  fami 
lies  are  interred.  The  arcades  are  filled  with 
fragments  of  sculpture,  principally  of  old  Roman 
origin,  as  well  as  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  walls 
are  adorned  with  frescos,  the  work  of  some  of 
the  most  distinguished  pre-Raphaelites,  but  are 
very  much  injured  by  time. 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  I  1 3 

Some  men  are  at  this  moment  passing  the 
hotel,  singing  in  chorus  a  beautiful  thing  from  an 
opera.  As  we  listen,  their  pleasant  voices  fade 
gradually  upon  the  ear  and  pass  into  the  night, 
seeming  to  complete  the  strange,  poetic  charm 
which,  to  me,  surrounds  these  ancient  cities. 


114- 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


ROME,  January  6,  1867. 
ERE  we  are,  at  last,  in  the 
Eternal  City,  which  we 
reached  last  Tuesday  even 
ing,  after  travelling  a  day 
and  a  night  from  Florence. 
At  Florence,  we  only  spent 
a  few  hours  waiting  for  the 
train  to  Rome,  which  left  at 
nine  o'clock  in  the  evening. 
While  there,  we  attempted 
a  drive  in  an  open  carriage, 

but  were  soon  driven  within  doors  by  the  rain. 
When  it  cleared,  we  took  a  walk  on  the  Ponte 
Vecchio,  which  is  filled  with  curious  old  shops, 
chiefly  in  the  breastpin  and  ring  line  of  the  past, 
as  well  as  the  present,  day.  The  variety  of  people, 
carts,  carriages,  and  donkeys,  that  passed  and  re- 
passed  us  in  wild  disorder ;  the  beggars,  the  mud, 
the  rags,  the  street-cries,  and  the  screams  and 
yells  of  the  mule  drivers,  in  not  very  choice 
Italian,  are  beyond  description.  As  we  intend 
to  return  to  Florence  in  a  few  weeks,  I  shall 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  1 1 5 

say  nothing  more  of  the  city,  as  we  only  saw  what 
I  have  described. 

On  the  road  to  Rome  there  was  nothing  unlike 
what  we  had  seen  before.  Dirty  little  villages 
clustering  around  a  dirty  church  in  the  centre, 
like  sheep  around  their  shepherd ;  most  of  these 
perched  up  high  among  the  rocks  or  prominent 
points,  sometimes  surrounded  by  an  ancient  and 
massive  wall.  We  reached  Rome  about  sunset, 
and  the  most  prominent  object  as  we  approached 
the  city,  was  the  great  dome  of  St.  Peter's  rising 
grandly  above  the  horizon  with  a  red  belt  of  light, 
left  by  the  departing  sun,  behind  it.  The  next 
morning,  our  first  visit  was  to  the  mighty  church, 
which  somewhat  disappointed  us  in  approaching 
it,  —  we  only  fully  realized  its  vast  proportions 
after  we  had  entered  its  doors,  —  then,  we  felt  as 
grains  of  sand  upon  the  shore.  The  interior 
seems  to  me  a  little  overloaded  with  ornament 
and  small  forms,  as  well  as  variety  of  color, 
the  effect  of  which  destroys  the  idea  of  space 
and  simplicity ;  but  nearly  all  Roman  Catholic 
churches  have  this  defect. 

After  looking  about  us  for  some  time,  we 
ascended  to  the  roof,  on  which  is  built  a  number 
of  houses  for  the  accommodation  of  the  work 
men  employed  to  keep  it  in  repair,  amounting  to 


Il6  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

two  hundred  men  —  the  expenses  yearly  are  about 
$50,000.  The  next  thing  to  be  looked  at  was 
the  Ball,  which  will  hold  sixteen  people.  After 
ascending  an  endless,  winding,  stone  staircase  be 
tween  the  walls,  we  reached  the  middle  of  the 
Dome,  and  stood  upon  a  gallery  which  runs 
around  the  whole.  As  I  looked  down  upon  the 
marble  pavement,  nearly  four  hundred  feet  below 
me,  I  saw  some  black  dots  moving  about,  which, 
they  told  me,  were  people.  Several  men  were 
employed  mending  the  mosaic-work,  some  bits  of 
which  had  fallen  out  of  the  leg  of  one  of  Angelo's 
sprawling  infants  (about  twelve  feet  high),  and,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  a  few  found  their  way  into  our 
pockets.  Again  we  ascended  more  steps,  still 
more,  and  at  last  reached  a  small  circular  room 
with  a  perpendicular  ladder  of  wood  which  led  us 
up  to  the  iron  Ball,  where  we  found  it  as  hot  as 
August.  We  consequently,  got  out  of  it  as  soon 
as  possible,  and,  after  examining  the  body  of  the 
church,  again  returned  to  the  roof,  from  which  we 
had  a  splendid  view  of  the  city  and  the  surround 
ing  country  for  many  miles.  There  were  the 
snowy  peaks  of  the  Apennines,  the  Campagna, 
and,  endless  remains  of  Old  Rome  in  every 
direction. 

Afterwards,   we   drove   to    the    Palace    of   the 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  1 1  7 

Caesars  —  an  enormous  mass  of  ruins  covering 
thirty-five  acres ;  the  workmen  were  engaged  in 
excavating  while  we  were  there ;  the  whole  of  it 
was  once  below  the  Rome  of  to-day.  Near  it, 
numbers  of  fragments  of  figures,  busts,  and  pot 
tery  are  shown,  all  of  which  have  been  found 
among  the  ruins,  and  were  once  ornaments  of  the 
palace. 

The  next  object  of  interest  was  the  Coliseum, 
passing,  on  our  way  thither,  under  the  Arch  of 
Titus,  and  by  that  of  Constantine.  You  may 
form  some  idea  of  the  enormous  size  of  the  build 
ing,  when  you  are  told  that  it  held  87,000  per 
sons  ! 

There  is  a  sense  of  power  and  dignity  in  these 
noble,  yet  melancholy  remains  of  this  stupendous 
structure,  that  no  other  ruins  possess.  Its  vast 
and  shattered  walls  stand  as  a  monument  of  the 
grandeur  as  well  as  the  brutal  tastes  of  the  iron 
race  that  erected  it. 

In  the  centre  of  the  arena,  stands  a  wooden 
cross,  painted  brown  and  resting  upon  three 
square  blocks  of  granite,  like  steps.  Any  one  who 
kisses  this  cross  as  he  passes  through,  has  in 
dulgence  granted  him  for  one  hundred  days. 
About  five  feet  from  the  base,  it  is  black  from  the 
kisses  it  has  received  since  its  erection.  While  I 


I  1 8  SXE  TCHES  ABR  GAD 

was  looking  at  it,  from  the  seat  called  Caesar's, 
I  saw  a  very  gentlemanly  looking  man  walk 
gravely  up,  remove  his  hat  with  reverence,  and 
kiss  it,  followed  by  three  or  four  men  of  the  lower 
order,  who  did  the  same.  I  suppose  they  soon 
after  fell  to  picking  pockets  with  an  easy  con 
science. 

Within  a  few  yards  of  our  hotel,  are  the 
church  and  the  Spanish  steps  spoken  of  by 
Dickens,  in  his  "  Pictures  of  Italy,"  as  being  the 
resort  of  the  "  artists'  models."  I  walked  up  there 
a  few  days  ago,  and  found  any  number  of  "  Holy 
Families"  and  "  Saints  " — great  "  lumps  of  them," 
as  he  says  —  waiting  to  be  hired.  While  sitting 
on  the  steps  to  rest  and  watch  the  people,  a  Ro 
man  woman  with  her  little  child  passed  me,  in  her 
picturesque  dress  of  scarlet  and  blue.  By  using  a 
little  pantomime,  I  gave  her  to  understand  that  I 
wished  to  make  a  sketch  of  her.  She  took  the 
hint  at  once  and  stood,  a  few  steps  below  me, 
in  the  act  of  knitting,  with  her  child  at  her  feet. 
I  began  my  drawing,  and  was  immediately  sur 
rounded  by  a  crowd,  as  usual.  You  constantly 
meet  these  "  models  "  basking  in  the  sun  on  the 
sidewalks ;  some  doing  the  decayed  nobleman 
leaning  against  the  corner  of  a  house,  with  a  rag 
of  a  cloak  thrown  grandly  over  the  shoulder,  and 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 

a  melancholy  eye  cast  at  you  from  under  the  edge 
of  a  battered,  greasy  hat.  Then  the  beggars ! 
with  legs  and  without,  some  only  the  stump  of  a 
man,  —  the  gentlemanly  beggars,  and  the  monks 
who  are  beggars,  —  there  is  no  end  to  them  ;  they 
swarm  in  every  street  and  prey  upon  you ;  in  fact, 
all  Italy  seems  but  an  open  hand  waiting  for 
change ! 


120  SKETCHES  ABROAD 


ROME,  January  13. 

OINCE  my  last,  we  have  been  out  "  doing 
Rome  "  every  day,  with  the  exception  of  the 
wet  ones,  which  have  been,  lately,  very  numerous. 
One  morning,  we  went  to  the  Church  of  Ara 
Cceli,  where  was  lying,  in  state,  the  "  Holy  Bam 
bino."  There  was  a  procession  to-day,  and  cere 
monies  attending  the  reconsignment  to  its  box, 
wherein  it  will  be  kept  under  lock  and  key,  until 
next  Christmas-day.  The  lock  can  be  opened, 
however,  at  any  time,  with  a  silver  franc.  The 
"  Bambino  "  is  a  doll  representing  our  Saviour  as 
an  infant.  The  tradition  is,  that  a  holy  monk 
carved  it  out  of  a  piece  of  wood  from  one  of  the 
trees  in  the  Garden  of  Olives,  and  that  St.  Luke 
painted  the  face !  It  is  dressed  in  swaddling- 
clothes,  covered,  apparently,  with  precious  stones, 
and  with  a  jeweled  crown  upon  its  head.  All  the 
real  stones  have  been  removed  by  the  priests,  and 
imitation  ones  have  taken  their  place.  One  of 
the  chapels  was  fitted  up  like  the  stage  of  a 
theatre,  representing  the  inside  of  the  stable,  with 
two  cows'  heads  rising  above  the  Bambino,  Mary 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  l  2  I 

and  Joseph  in  attitudes  on  either  side,  and  a  few 
other  figures,  all  of  the  size  of  life.  Above,  were 
painted  clouds,  where,  among  crowds  of  angels, 
sat  a  somewhat  magnificent  figure  of  God,  ex 
tending  his  hands  over  the  group  below.  The 
whole  was  lighted  with  gas,  and  was  quite  effect 
ive  as  a  tableau,  before  which  the  deluded  Ro 
manists  were  kneeling  in  devout  adoration  and 
awe. 

From  there,  we  went  in  search  of  the  Tarpeian 
Rock,  which  we  found  in  a  neglected  garden, 
and  so  surrounded  with  liouses,  there  was  not 
much  left  to  convey  to  our  minds  the  horror  of 
the  victims  who  were  once  hurled  from  it  into  the 
abyss  below.  Then  to  the  Basilica  of  St.  John 
Lateran,  where  the  Popes  are  crowned,  and  where 
we  saw  a  piece  of  board  about  five  feet  long  and 
two  wide,  purporting  to  be  a  portion  of  the  table 
from  off  which  the  Lord's  Supper  was  eaten,  and 
were  told  that  behind  certain  curtains  was  some 
of  the  blood  and  water  which  flowed  from  the 
Saviour's  side  !  Near  this  church  is  the  Santa 
Scala,  up  which  we  saw  the  devotees  going  on 
their  knees ;  an  act  of  devotion  which  gives  them 
many  years  of  indulgences,  and,  I  believe,  saves 
them  from  Purgatory  ! 

We  have  been  three  times  to  the  Vatican,  and 

16 


122  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

once  to  the  Capitol,  both  of  which  contain  splen 
did  collections  of  antique  statues  in  bronze  and 
marble.  Prominent  among  these  in  the  former, 
are  the  Apollo,  Laocoon,  and  that  grand  frag 
ment,  the  Torso,  besides  an  immense  collection 
of  other  figures,  busts,  and  monuments,  many  of 
them  of  a  high  order  of  art.  The  rooms  are 
thirteen  thousand  in  number,  —  some  of  them 
enormous.  Most  of  the  statues  were  found  in  a 
shattered  condition,  and  have  been  put  together 
with  great  care,  some  parts  restored.  The  first 
room  we  entered,  contained  inscriptions  taken 
from  the  tombs  of  the  early  Christians  and 
Pagans ;  these  are  all  set  into  the  wall.  One 
room  is  devoted  to  animals  in  marbles  and 
bronze,  some  of  which  are  capital,  but  not  equal 
to  the  human  figures,  the  best  of  which  are,  I 
think,  beyond  all  praise,  —  the  very  perfection  of 
form. 

Our  second  visit  was  to  the  Sistine  Chapel, 
where  the  frescos  of  Angelo  and  his  "Last  Judg 
ment  "  —  which  covers  the  whole  end  of  the 
room  —  are,  of  course,  the  greatest  features. 
They  have  all  been  dreadfully  injured  by  damp 
and  smoke,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  make  out 
much  of  the  composition.  In  front  of  the  "  Judg 
ment,"  they  have  placed  a  huge  pulpit,  which 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  123 

covers  nearly  a  fourth  of  it.  The  ceiling,  which 
contains,  I  think,  the  best  of  the  frescos,  is 
covered  with  great  blotches  of  black,  from  leaks 
on  the  roof,  while  other  parts  are  much  faded  and 
obscure  in  color.  The  color  I  found  much  better 
than  I  was  led  to  suppose,  the  figures  painted 
with  boldness  and  freedom  ;  some  very  grand, 
others  extravagant.  The  composition  of  the 
"  Creation  of  Adam,"  with  his  figure  rising  from 
the  earth  in  its  first  consciousness  of  existence  — 
brought  to  life  by  a  touch  of  the  Creator,  who 
floats  above  him  —  is,  perhaps,  the  sublimest  con 
ception  in  the  whole  range  of  art.  Some  of  the 
prophets  have  a  certain  heaviness  of  form  and 
want  of  high  intellectual  expression,  which  does 
not  convey  the  idea  of  men  acting  under  a 
mighty  inspiration.  The  figure  of  Jonah  is  an 
exception,  and  is  worthy  of  the  tremendous 
genius  of  its  author.  The  "  Last  Judgment "  is 
more  like  a  composition  of  detached  groups  than 
a  grand  whole  illustrating  a  single  idea;  and 
wanting  broad  masses  of  light  and  shadow,  it 
fails,  I  think,  to  make  the  impression  it  otherwise 
would.  Had  it  been  treated  in  this  latter  respect 
as  Rembrandt  would  have  treated  it,  the  effect 
upon  the  mind  would  have  been  increased  ten 
fold. 


124 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


In  the  Picture  Gallery  are  the  world-renowned 
"  Transfiguration  "  by  Raphael,  and  the  "  Com 
munion  of  St.  Jerome,"  by  Dotnenichino,  two 
pictures  of  the  highest  order  of  art,  but  which, 
nevertheless,  did  not  give  me  that  intense  gratifi 
cation  that  many  other  works  of  the  great  masters 
have  done. 

We  have  passed  a  morning  at  the  Capitol,  sev 
eral  rooms  of  which  are  filled  with  statues  by 
the  mighty  Greeks.  The  "  Dying  Gladiator  "  is 
among  these,  and  the  finest,  I  thought,  of  all,  — 
full  of  truth  and  exquisite  feeling.  I  was  also 
delighted  with  the  "  Fawn  of  Praxiteles,"  which  is 
a  most  charming  figure 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  125 


ROME,   January   18. 

\  \  TE  are  now  living  in  apartments  very  com 
fortably  ;  indeed  it  is  almost  like  being  at 
home.  We  have  a  servant,  who,  unfortunately, 
speaks  only  Italian,  which  is  decidedly  tough  for 
all  of  us.  J—  -  sometimes  plunges  suddenly 
into  the  parlor  for  the  Italian  dictionary,  to  look 
up  "  boiled  potatoes,"  "  hot  water,"  "  soup,"  etc., 
and  dashes  as  suddenly  back  again  to  give  orders 
for  the  preparation  of  the  same.  Our  maid's 
name  is  Carmina  Pasquiloni,  and  a  model  servant 
she  is,  faithful,  honest,  and  untiring  in  her  de 
votion  to  our  interests.  The  weather  has  been 
so  bad  since  last  I  wrote,  that  we  have  not  been 
out  much  :  one  day,  however,  we  drove  on  the 
Pincian  Hill,  from  which  we  had  a  fine  view 
of  the  city  and  its  innumerable  churches  and 
strangely  narrow  streets.  Yesterday,  we  went  to 
see  donkeys  and  horses  blessed  by  the  Pope,  in 
front  of  the  church  of  San  Antonio,  which  cere 
mony,  unfortunately,  we  did  not  see,  as  it  was  de 
ferred  until  later  in  the  day,  on  account  of  the 
rain.  In  the  church  there  was  a  very  pretty  effect 


126  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

of  light  and  color  :  the  whole  building  was 
richly  draped  in  red,  white,  and  blue  ;  the  priests 
in  vestments  of  gold,  white,  and  crimson,  kneel 
ing  before  the  altar,  chanting;  while  the  people 
—  ragged  and  greasy  —  were  doing  the  same  in 
the  body  of  the  church,  the  pavement  of  which 
was  strewn  with  evergreens.  The  candles  burn 
ing  upon  the  altar,  were  dimly  seen  through  the 
smoke  of  the  incense,  which  rilled  the  place  like 
a  fog. 

As  we  left  the  church,  men,  on  each  side  of  the 
entrance,  rattled  charity-boxes  in  our  ears,  while 
the  beggars  hobbled  after  us,  some  holding  up 
the  stump  of  an  arm,  and  others  rapping  their 
chins,  to  indicate  that  their  stomachs  wanted 
filling  at  our  expense. 

I  visited  the  Capitol  again  to  see  the  Picture 
Gallery,  which  contains  a  few  good  pictures  —  a 
fine  head  of  Velasquez,  by  himself,  one  or  two 
Vandykes,  and  a  large  altar-piece  by  Guercino, 
which  is  a  work  of  great  power.  While  standing 
before  it,  a  very  plain,  old  man,  in  a  gray  overcoat 
and  felt  hat,  very  much  bent  in  the  back  and 
feeble  in  the  limbs,  came  up  with  one  of  the 
officials  (dressed  in  cocked  hat  and  buttons),  of 
whom  the  venerable  man  in  gray  asked  many 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  127 

questions.  We  afterwards  learned  that  this  aged 
gentleman  was  no  less  a  personage  than  the  King 
of  Bavaria.  As  he  passed  out,  he  smiled  blandly 
at  D—  — ,  and  nodded.  On  our  way  home,  we 
stopped  at  the  Barberini  Palace,  where  we  found 
a  small  collection  of  pictures,  among  them,  the 
Beatrice  Cenci,  which  has  bewitched  the  world  for 
two  centuries.  I  regret  to  say,  her  fascinations 
were  lost  upon  us,  —  the  face  struck  me  as  nothing 
more  than  that  of  a  pretty  woman  with  a  slightly 
sad  expression,  having  none  of  the  exquisite 
beauty  we  expected  to  find.  Next  to  it,  hangs 
the  famous  Fornarina  of  Raphael,  which  has 
neither  beauty  of  form  nor  color,  at  least  it  so 
struck  me  ;  how  it  gained  its  great  reputation,  I 
cannot  imagine.  There  is  a  good  head  of  a  Car 
dinal,  by  Titian,  which  is,  stupidly,  hung  nearly 
out  of  sight. 

This  morning,  in  a  pouring  rain,  we  started  for 
St.  Peters,  to  see  the  "  Festival  of  St.  Peter's 
Chair,"  which  was  quite  as  good  as  an  opera. 
After  the  ladies  —  all  dressed  in  black  and  veiled 
—  had  taken  their  seats  on  benches  within  an  en 
closure,  I  took  my  place  at  the  base  of  a  slippery 
column,  on  which  I  tried  to  rest,  but  came  near 
measuring  my  length  on  the  floor,  three  times, 


128  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

while  waiting  for  the  curtain  to  rise.  Presently  is 
heard  a  flourish  of  trumpets.  Soldiers  enter  and 
march  up  the  body  of  the  Church,  with  music. 
Soldiers  form  on  both  sides  of  the  Church. 
Priests  now  appear  with  many  tall  candles,  fol 
lowed  by  cardinals,  their  robes  held  up  by  four 
priests  each.  In  the  distance  approaches  the 
Pope  seated  in  a  chair,  borne  on  the  shoulders  of 
men  in  red  —  his  poor  head  wagging  about  under 
a  triple  crown  blazing  with  jewels.  Directly  be 
hind  him,  are  carried  two  immense  fans  of  white 
peacocks'  tails,  which  suggest  the  idea  of  his 
Holiness  being  in  very  high  feather,  on  the  occa 
sion.  As  he  passes,  the  whole  body  of  soldiers 
and  people  drop  on  their  knees,  which  is  very 
effective,  as  well  as  painful  to  the  public  leg. 
The  Pope  is  next  carried  to  a  raised  platform  at 
the  extreme  end  of  the  church,  and  placed  on  a 
throne,  when  the  cardinals  range  themselves  on 
either  side  of  his  Holiness,  and  go  through  many 
extraordinary  performances ;  kissing  his  toe,  pull 
ing  off  his  mitre,  and  replacing  it  with  another  of 
a  different  kind  (this  was  done  several  times), 
drawing  aside  his  robes,  seeming  to  say,  "  Gentle 
men,  there  is  no  deception  here,  we  assure  you, 
it 's  the  genuine  article  and  no  humbug ;  he  's 
quite  alive ;  these  are  his  own,  precious,  holy  legs, 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 


129 


body  and  all."  After  the  ceremony  was  over,  the 
Pope  was  again  hoisted  into  the  chair,  the  feathers 
spread,  and  the  whole  concern  -  -  his  rickety 
Holiness,  red  cardinals,  sleek  priests,  and  Pope's 
Guard  —  all  moved  out  together,  the  soldiers  and 
people  falling  on  their  knees  as  before  ;  I  also,  - 
but  not  on  my  knees,  —  as  he  passed  out  of  the 
Church.  As  a  theatrical  performance,  it  was  a 
beautiful  exhibition,  but  as  a  religious  ceremony, 
by  no  means  impressive. 

17 


1 3o 


SKETCHES     ABROAD 


NAPLES,   January  26. 

APLES  is  the  most  active, 
all-alive  city  we  have  seen, 
as  well  as  the  most  filthy; 
a  rushing,  roaring  place, 
everybody  in  a  hurry,  and 
every  other  man  a  beggar ; 
there  is  nothing  like  it  in 
all  Europe.  Every  hole 
and  corner  is  crammed 
with  people  singing,  laugh 
ing,  or  abusing  each  other 

with  the  greatest  energy.  What  the  tongue  can 
not  express,  the  hands  will,  and  a  quarrel  is  kept 
up  in  violent  pantomime,  long  after  the  parties  are 
out  of  hearing,  with  all  the  scorn  and  hatred  that 
ten  fingers  can  express.  As  I  walk  on  the  Molo, 
among  the  fishermen,  with  their  red  caps  and 
bare  legs,  I  find  myself  involuntarily  humming  an 
air  from  "  Massaniello."  The  manner  in  which 
the  much-abused  donkey  is  driven,  is  another 
feature  ;  the  driver  follows  close  behind,  holding 
on  to  the  tail,  by  which  he  steers  the  beast  skill- 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL. 


fully  through  the  dense  crowd,  the  poor  animal 
braying,  and  he  pounding  it  with  a  stick,  as  hard 
as  he  can,  screaming  with  all  his  might  at  the 
same  time. 

Then  the  beggars ! 
trotting  after  you 
and  rapping  on  their 
chins  with  a  noise 
like  castanets,  —  a 
trick  peculiar  to  the 
beggars  of  Italy,  and 
.more  especially  to 
those  of  Naples. 

There,  too,  are 
the  flower-girls,  who 
thrust  a  small  bou 
quet  into  your  but 
ton-hole  as  you  pass, 
expecting  to  get 
from  you,  at  least, 
four  times  its  value. 
If  a  man  points  out 
the  way  to  any  place 

or  street,  he  holds  out  his  hand  for  a  reward  ; 
there  is  no  end  to  their  various  ways  of  squeezing 
money  out  of  you,  and,  as  soon  as  they  get  it, 
they  throw  you  aside  like  a  dry  lemon  —  without 
thanks. 


132 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


Every  day,  we  have  some  very  amusing  scenes 
below  our  windows ;  fellows  in  rags  serenade  us  at 
all  hours ;  one  affectionate  individual  with  a  guitar 
plants  himself  in  front  of  my  room  and  makes 
love  to  us  with  slow  and  pathetic  strains.  He  is 
tender  and  humorous  by  turns,  and  in  the  midst 
of  a  most  melancholy  and  touching  ditty,  breaks 

into  a  squeak  after 
the  manner  of  Punch, 
and  utterly  ruins  the 
sentiment.  Others  act 
short,  tragic  panto 
mimes,  wherein  they 
kill  each  other  for  the 
love  of  a  six-foot 
damsel.  Then  comes 
Punch  in  his  box, 
and  bangs  poor  Judy 
about,  while  a  select 
party  of  trained  dogs 
in  coat  and  frill,  with 
tails  screwed  up  to 
the  tightest  possible 
twist,  stagger  around 

on  their  hind  legs  to  the  wretched  scraping  of  a 
cracked  fiddle. 

The  day  after  our  arrival  here,  we  started  early 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  133 

in  the  morning  for  Vesuvius,  but  when  we  reached 
Resina,  we  unfortunately  found  all  the  mules  had 
been  engaged  by  persons  who  had  been  waiting 
a  fortnight  in  Naples  for  sunshine ;  so  we  con 
cluded  to  drive  on  to  Pompeii.  As  we  ap 
proached  the  buried  city,  like  some  dread  mon 
ster  Mt.  Vesuvius  lay  before  us,  no  breath  issuing 
from  those  terrible  jaws  which  have  so  often  vom 
ited  devastation  and  death  upon  all  within  their 
reach.  Giving  no  indication  of  the  dreadful 
power  within,  it  slept,  its  summit  lost  in  a  cloud. 
We  looked  eagerly  for  the  first  signs  of  the 
famous  city,  and  at  last  discovered  some  broken 
walls  above  an  embankment,  which  we  were  told 
was  Pompeii  !  It  was  with  a  strange  and  un- 
definable  feeling  that  I  found  myself  entering 
the  house  of  Diomede,  walking  through  the 
streets  where  the  marks  of  wheels  are  quite  vis 
ible,  or  crossing  them  upon  the  huge  stepping- 
stones,  placed  there  more  than  two  thousand 
years  ago.  We  saw  the  well,  its  edge  worn  by 
the  friction  of  the  rope,  and  the  bakers'  shops 
with  the  ovens,  in  one  of  which,  you  remember, 
some  loaves  of  bread  were  found.  In  the  wine- 
cellar  of  one  house,  the  guide  showed  an  impres 
sion  of  one  of  fifteen  bodies  that  were  found 
there,  near  the  door ;  many  wine-jars  still  remain, 


134  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

partly  buried  in  the  ground  and  filled  with  ashes. 
In  a  garden,  have  been  left  a  fountain  and  several 
small  figures  of  marble  standing  around  it,  just  as 
they  were  discovered.  We  saw  the  casts  of  the 
five  figures  that  were  found  some  three  years  ago 
—  three  men  and  two  women.  In  one  cast  of  a 
girl  lying  on  her  face,  the  skull  and  some  of  the 
bones  of  the  feet  and  hands  still  remain  in  the 
plaster.  One  of  the  men  lies  on  his  back,  with 
his  mouth  half  open,  and  the  brows  drawn  up  and 
contracted,  showing  that  he  died  in  great  agony. 

The  houses  of  Pompeii  are  quite  small,  and  the 
streets  narrow ;  in  many  of  the  rooms  the  frescos 
on  the  walls  are  as  sharp^  and  distinct  as  if  re 
cently  painted.  We  had  not  time  to  examine 
anything  properly,  as  the  detestable  guide  hurried 
us  through  in  the  fast,  business  style.  With  a 
few  exceptions,  everything  found  in  the  city  has 
been  brought  to  the  museum  here,  which  we  vis 
ited  to-day.  The  collection  is  wonderfully  interest 
ing,  consisting  of  statues,  mosaics,  arms,  armor, 
jewelry,  household  articles,  etc.,  etc.  In  one  of 
the  helmets  is  the  skull  of  a  faithful  soldier,  who 
died  at  his  post  near  the  city  gate.  There  were 
pots  of  rouge  found  in  the  house  of  Diomede,  with 
pins,  combs,  and  thimbles  like  those  of  to-day,  and 
thousands  of  other  things  equally  strange  and  in 
teresting. 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  135 

As  you  may  suppose,  we  did  not  fail  to  visit 
Herculaneum,  which  we  did  in  single  file,  and  by 
the  light  of  candles  which  each  held  in  his  hand ; 
an  amusing,  but  not  very  satisfactory  performance, 
as,  when  we  wished  to  see  anything,  —  for  in 
stance,  the  impression  of  the  comic  mask  on  the 
ceiling  of  the  theatre,  —  we  were  obliged  to  bring 
all  our  candles  to  bear  on  the  point  in  order  to 
find  it.  We  were  disappointed  in  seeing  only  the 
theatre. 


136  SKETCHES  ABROAD 


NAPLES,  February  i. 

OINCE  I  last  wrote,  we  have  been  taking  a 
short  trip  further  south  ;  first  to  Sorrento  — 
a  delicious  place  situated  on  high  cliffs  overlook 
ing  the  bay  of  Naples,  and  Mount  Vesuvius  in  the 
distance.  Our  hotel  was  surrounded  by  orange 
groves,  and  on  the  trees  were  both  fruit  and  flow 
ers,  which  we  gathered  as  we  passed  beneath 
them  on  our  donkeys.  We  were  here  three  days, 
waiting  for  a  chance  to  visit  Capri,  but  the 
weather  was  unpropitious,  and  we  were  obliged, 
unwillingly,  to  leave  without  accomplishing  it. 
We  drove  to  Torre  dell'  Annunciata,  where  we 
took  the  cars  for  Salerno,  with  the  intention  of 
going  to  Paestum  to  see  the  ruins  there,  which 
are  older  than  anything  in  Rome,  going  back  six 
hundred  years  before  the  Christian  Era.  Salerno 
is  a  lively,  dirty  town  upon  the  bay,  with  a  splen 
did  view  of  the  Appenines  for  many  miles. 

As  we  had  heard  some  rather  alarming  ac 
counts  of  brigands  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Passtum,  we  made  inquiries,  and  were  advised  to 
take  a  guard  ;  so  we  procured  an  order  for  four 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL. 


137 


carabineers  from  the  commanding  officer,  and 
started  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  accom 
panied  by  our  friends  Mr.  and  Mrs.  L—  — . 
D —  -  being  cautious,  declined  joining  the  party, 
and  thought  us  decidedly  foolish,  to  run  the  risk 
of  being  gobbled  up  by  those  terrible  creatures. 
L—  -'s  courier  told  us  there  were  no  brigands 
left  —  that  they  had 
all  been  driven  out 
of  their  hiding  places 
by  the  soldiers  ;  and 
I  thought  the  stories 
had  been  greatly  ex 
aggerated,  as  tales  of 
that  kind  usually  are 
-  so  off  we  went. 

The  morning  was 
lovely,  and  the  scen 
ery  all  along  the  road 
exquisite.  Every 
where  we  saw  men 
and  women  working 
in  the  most  pictur 
esque  costumes  — 
the  women  in  the 
Neapolitan  dress,  and  the  men  in  sheepskin  coats 
and  sandaled  feet,  watching  herds  of  buffaloes, 

18 


138  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

and  flocks  of  sheep  and  goats.  As  we  drove 
along,  I  noticed  a  number  of  men  travelling  on 
horseback,  with  guns  slung  at  their  backs,  or 
across  the  saddle  in  front  :  this  was  suggestive 
of  something  serious  !  When  we  reached  Eboli, 
where  our  guard  was  to  be  obtained,  we  saw  a 
number  of  carabineers  mounting  their  horses  to 
accompany  a  cart  full  of  men,  —  prisoners,  —  who 
had  been  -taken  in  the  neighboring  country  for 
various  crimes  —  theft,  etc.  The  poor  devils  were 
handcuffed  in  pairs,  and  left  for  Salerno  while  we 
were  waiting.  At  last  four  fine  looking  soldiers 
were  selected  for  us,  and  away  we  went  again,  our 
guards  each  armed  with  a  carbine  and  revolver. 
I  found,  afterwards,  they  were  all  men  who  had 
smelt  powder,  and  had  been  in  many  a  hot  and 
hasty  fight.  One  of  them  had  killed  nine  brig 
ands  during  the  last  four  years,  and  another, 
five ;  they  said  they  always  tried  to  make  short 
work  of  them,  shooting  them  on  the  spot  as  soon 
as  taken.  The  corporal  had  a  medal  which  had 
been  given  to  him  as  a  reward  of  bravery. 

After  travelling  twenty-four  miles,  we  reached 
Passtum,  where  we  found  a  few  scattered  houses, 
and  the  ruins  of  three  grand  temples.  We 
entered  the  Temple  of  Neptune,  which  is  the 
finest  and  most  perfect  of  all ;  after  examining  it 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  I  39 

for  some  time  with  the  greatest  interest,  I  sat 
down  at  the  base  of  one  of  its  massive  columns 
and  began  a  drawing,  while  the  rest  spread  our 
lunch  upon  a  fallen  fragment  of  the  ruin.  Our 
guards,  of  course,  were  furnished  with  some  of  the 
good  things,  and  while  discussing  them,  we  had 
many  visitors  in  the  shape  of  dogs  and  boys  —  the 
latter  having  for  sale  some  coins  which  had  been 
dug  up  in  the  neighborhood.  The  smallest  among 
them,  apparently  anxious  to  turn  an  honest  penny, 
and  not  having  any  coins  to  dispose  of,  sud 
denly  appeared  among  us  with  an  immense 
turnip,  leaves  and  all,  which  he  shouldered  like 
a  musket,  and  stood  before  us,  afraid  to  ask,  but 
innocently  waiting  for  a  purchaser. 

After  we  had  finished  our  lunch,  we  visited  the 
Basilica  and  the  Field  of  Tombs.  But  one  tomb 
remains,  into  which  we  crept ;  it  has  part  of  a 
fresco  still  remaining,  some  of  the  colors,  strange 
to  say,  quite  fresh. 

As  we  wandered  about  attended  by  our  armed 
guard,  who  never  left  us  for  a  moment,  and  fol 
lowed  by  the  boys,  the  corporal  entertained  us 
with  his  adventures  with  the  brigands,  describing, 
with  true  Italian  fire  and  vivacity,  the  taking  of 
the  captain  of  the  band,  which  he  did,  a  short 
time  before,  with  his  own  hand.  He  said  that 


140  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

worthy  was  greatly  alarmed  on  being  captured, 
and  begged  him,  on  his  knees,  for  the  love  of  the 
Holy  Mother,  to  spare  his  life ;  that  he  would  re 
form  and  become  an  honest  man.  "  No,"  said  the 
gallant  corporal,  "  you  would  murder  me  or  any 
of  my  men  if  you  had  an  opportunity ;  so  you 
must  die,"  and  placing  a  revolver  to  his  head, 
blew  out  his  brains  on  the  spot.  All  this  was  told 
in  the  most  dramatic  manner  —  the  soldier  falling 
on  his  knees,  with  clasped  hands  and  pleading 
face,  shaking  from  head  to  foot  with  well-assumed 
fear.  It  was  quite  an  effective  scene  ;  the  back 
ground  the  glorious  sea,  the  foreground  the  grand 
Temple  of  Neptune  surrounded  by  a  vast  and 
desolate  plain. 

As  we  returned  to  Salerno,  the  soldiers  pointed 
out  to  us  a  place  not  more  than  half  a  mile  from 
the  road,  where  they  had  taken  and  shot  two 
brigands  the  night  before  !  and  a  house  close  by 
the  road,  where,  a  year  ago,  a  farmer  had  been 
murdered  for  refusing  to  give  up  his  money. 
They  also  showed  us  the  spot  where  Mr.  Moens 
and  his  friend  were  seized,  three  years  ago,  and 
held  for  ransom.  The  corporal  told  us  that  he 
and  his  comrades  scour  the  country  every  night, 
enter  every  house,  and  make  the  inmates  give  a 
good  account  of  themselves,  as,  very  often,  the 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 

peasants  are  in  league  with  the  brigands.  We 
did  not  reach  the  hotel  till  long  after  dark,  having 
been  delayed  at  a  ferry,  —  our  prolonged  absence 

causing  much  anxiety  to  poor  D . 

We  returned  to  Naples  on  the  next  morning, 
where  we  were  looked  upon  as  heroes  and  hero 
ines,  in  consequence  of  the  adventurous  spirit 
we  had  shown  in  thus  braving  the  dangers  of 
Paestum,  for  we  were  the  first  who  had  done  so 
this  season. 


SKETCHES   At  ROAD 


ROME,  February  14. 

T  seemed  very  pleasant  to 
return  to  our  comfort 
able  apartments  in 
Rome,  where  we  were 
received  by  our  good 
Carmina  with  smiles 
and  welcome.  I  have 
been  very  busy  mak 
ing  drawings  from  the 
peasants,  and  conse 
quently  have  not  seen 
much  of  the  city  lately. 

We  have  been  to  a  reception  given  by  the  new 
Spanish  ambassador.  We  found  it  difficult  to 
reach  the  palace,  so  great  was  the  crowd  of  car 
riages  and  of  people  assembled  to  hear  a  band  of 
music,  which  was  playing  opposite  the  entrance. 
After  some  little  delay,  however,  our  turn  came, 
and  driving  under  the  porte  cochere,  we  alighted 
and  passed  up  broad  flights  of  marble  stairs,  the 
balusters  of  which  were  entirely  hidden  with 
masses  of  flowers,  —  statues  and  flowering  plants 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  143 

on  each  landing,  —  through  a  hall,  where  a  foun 
tain  was  playing  amidst  palms,  ferns,  mosses,  and 
flowers,  to  the  reception-rooms.  Servants  in  livery 
stood  on  each  landing  and  at  the  door  of  each 
room,  whose  business  it  was  to  announce  the 
names  of  the  guests,  tossing  them  from  one  to 
another  like  a  ball.  We  started  fair  with  the  first 
servant,  who  pronounced  the  names  quite  dis 
tinctly,  but  having  to  pass  through  eight  rooms, 
we  finally  reached  the  ambassador  and  his  lady 
as  "  Count  and  Countess  Falandrini ! "  or  some 
thing  like  it.  We  found  that  almost  every  one 
turned  up  in  the  same  remarkable  manner. 

About  twelve  rooms  were  thrown  open  to  the 
guests,  each  of  which  was  crowded  with  people  : 
princes,  dukes,  counts,  cardinals,  and  officers  by 
the  score,  all  in  the  most  gorgeous  attire.  Two 
Princesses  were  fairly  loaded  down  with  most 
magnificent  diamonds  and  pearls  --a  bla-ze  of 
splendor  !  One  or  two  of  the  men  were  nearly  hid 
den  behind  a  regular  breastwork  of  decorations, 
looking  over  the  top  to  see  what  you  thought 
of  them.  Numerous  nice  young  gentlemen  were 
among  the  guests,  having  their  hair  parted  in 
the  middle,  being  extremely  weak  in  their  legs, 
and  much  attached  to  their  hats.  One  individual, 
in  a  court-dress  covered  with  gold  lace  and  deco- 


T44  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

rations,  was  so  stuffed  and  padded  about  the  chest, 
he  looked  like  an  over-fed  old  pigeon  with  an  un 
natural  condition  of  crop.  The  whole  effect  of 
these  rooms,  filled  with  brilliant  dresses,  full  of 
color  and  glittering  with  jewels,  was  truly  superb. 

On  Thursday  we  visited  the  Baths  of  Caracalla, 
a  stupendous  ruin,  which,  almost  more  than  any 
thing  else,  gives  an  idea  of  the  luxury  and  mag 
nificence  in  which  the  old  Romans  lived.  We 
then  went  to  the  Church  of  San  Clemente,  which 
was  considered  one  of  the  most  ancient  churches 
in  Rome,  until  a  few  years  ago,  when  another  was 
discovered  beneath  it,  which  workmen  are  now 
excavating.  A  young  monk  gave  us  each  a  taper, 
and  led  us  down  to  and  through  this  lower  build 
ing.  Some  of  the  columns  are  very  beautiful,  and 
no  two  alike  ;  the  pavement  is  mosaic,  but  very 
much  broken,  and  there  are  frescos  on  the  walls, 
still  in  good  condition,  of  a  very  rude  style  of 
art. 

At  the  Church  of  the  Capuccini,  we  went  into 
their  under-ground  cemetery,  where  they  bury 
their  dead  friars  for  four  years,  and  then  disinter 
and  dress  them  in  the  garments  of  their  order, 
and  arrange  them  in  different  attitudes  in  niches, 
made  for  that  purpose  around  the  graves  —  the 
walls  are  also  decorated  with  thousands  of  their 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  145 

bones  in  various  ornamental  forms,  and  ghastly 
chandeliers  of  the  same  material  hang  from  the 
ceiling.  It  was  a  very  disgusting  sight,  and  I  was 
glad  to  get  away  as  soon  as  possible.  Afterwards, 
at  dinner,  I  was  quite  convinced  that  I  was  eating 
friar  steaks  and  monk  soup ! 

Yesterday  we  saw  the  collection  of  pictures  at 
the  Borghese  Palace.  There  are  some  fine  Titi- 
ans,  and  an  interesting  portrait  of  Caesar  Borgia, 
by  Raphael, — a  handsome  man  with  a  bad  expres 
sion,  —  and  many  other  works  by  the  old  mas 
ters  ;  in  fact,  the  best  private  collection  we  have 
seen  in  Rome,  meriting  a  much  longer  descrip 
tion  than  I  have  time  to  give  it.  We  also  visited 
the  Spada  Palace,  principally  to  see  the  famous 
statue  of  Pompey,  at  the  foot  of  which  "  great 
Caesar  fell ! "  The  figure  is  about  ten  feet  high, 
the  right  hand  is  extended,  and  it  has  a  stern, 
hard  face  of  the  true  Roman  type.  The  pictures 
were  of  less  interest,  containing  nothing  that 
stamped  itself  upon  the  memory. 


146  SKETCHES  ABROAD 


ROME,  February  23. 

OME  is  now  in  the  midst  of  the  Carnival, 
and  the  Corso,  the  famous  street  on  this 
occasion,  is  literally  thronged  with  a  concourse  of 
absurd  merry-makers,  every  afternoon.  The  grand 
amusement  of  this  motley  crowd  seems  to  consist 
in  peppering  each  other  with 'flowers  and  confetti. 
This  throwing  things  at  your  neighbor's  head  is, 
to  me,  a  very  ridiculous  and  childish  performance, 
but  it  is  the  thing  to  do,  and  they  do  it  thor 
oughly,  from  two  till  six  o'clock,  for  eleven  days, 
and  call  it  fun. 

Every  man  you  meet  in  the  afternoon,  appears 
to  have  been  put  through  a  course  of  flour ;  he 
has  been  at  the  Carnival,  "  enjoying  of  himself," 
and  with  a  shocking  bad  hat  jammed  over  his 
eyes,  looks  very  like  a  candle  with  an  extinguisher 
on.  The  ladies,  from  the  balconies  above,  pelt  the 
passers-by  with  bouquets  as  large  as  cabbages, 
and  receive  the  same  delicate  attention  from  the 
admiring  crowd  below.  Carriages  filled  with  men 
in  extraordinary  costumes,  pitch  turnips  and  car 
rots  at  the  lovely  beings  in  the  balconies ;  if  these 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  147 

vegetable  missiles  come  in  contact  with  the  fair 
one's  nose,  a  shout  is  produced  in  proportion  to 
the  rubbing  of  the  unhappy  feature.  When  an 
individual  fails  to  catch  a  bouquet,  the  people  in 
stantly  dive  for  it  like  ducks  in  a  pond,  —  heels 
up,  heads  down,  —  and  when  the  lucky  one  turns 
up  again  to  the  surface,  bouquet  in  hand,  out  of  a 
cloud  of  dust,  grinning,  puffing,  and  triumphant, 
he  darts  down  the  street,  using  his  boots  freely  on 
all  who  oppose  him. 

The  ever-present  Yankee  enjoys  all  this  pro 
digiously,  and  makes  his  appearance  upon  the 
Corso  in  the  most  conspicuous  of  turn-outs,  chin- 
deep  in  confetti,  with  an  inexhaustible  supply  of 
monstrous  bouquets,  and  in  a  costume  of  the 
most  absurd  description.  Of  course  everything 
he  does  is  on  the  grandest  scale,  —  a  perpetual 
spread  of  the  "  Bird  of  Freedom."  About  half- 
past  five  o'clock,  a  heavy  gun  is  heard,  when  the 
cavalry  come  down  the  street  at  a  gallop,  to  clear 
it  for  the  races.  Every  man  instantly  flattens 
himself  against  his  neighbor,  while  the  boys  bolt 
between  the  legs  of  the  same,  to  get  out  of  the 
way.  In  a  moment  all  eyes  look  up  the  Corso,  - 
you  hear  the  rush  of  the  flying  horses,  which  pass 
you  like  a  flash,  covered  with  foam  and  decorated 
with  ribbons  and  bright  copper  plates  with  sharp 


148  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

corners,  which  play  upon  their  flanks  like  knives, 
urging  them  to  their  highest  speed,  followed  by 
a  roar  from  the  excited  crowd.  Thus  ends  the 
Carnival  for  the  day,  to  be  repeated  the  next,  with 
all  its  follies  and  absurdities. 

On  Thursday,  there  was  a  grand  review  of 
troops  at  the  Borghese  Villa,  which,  by  the  way, 
has  the  most  lovely  grounds  I  have  seen  for  a 
long  time,  with  splendid  stone  pines  rising  from 
an  exquisite  lawn  of  the  richest  grass.  At  about 
half-past  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  the 
shadows  are  long,  the  effect  is  very  charming.  In 
the  centre  of  this  bit  of  fairy  land,  is  an  ancient 
amphitheatre,  where  stood  the  cavalry,  and  above, 
on  the  right  and  left,  the  infantry.  After  we  had 
waited  an  hour  and  a  half  for  the  performance  to 
commence,  —  sitting  on  one  of  the  stone  seats 
many  a  Roman  two  thousand  years  ago  had 
pressed  before  us,  —  the  trumpets  sounded,  and 
the  band  began  an  air  which,  I  am  sorry  to  say, 
suggested  "  Master  Stanley  in  the  great  two-horse 
act,"  more  particularly  when  the  general  in  com 
mand  came  down  and  round  the  circle  at  a  mild 
canter,  holding  on  to  his  hat,  —  apparently  too 
small  for  him,  —  which  he  nearly  lost  as  he 
bounced  about  and  gave  the  public  a  capital  view 
of  the  distant  country  between  himself  and  the 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 


149 


saddle  !     Among  the  aids  of  this  unhappy  eques 
trian   there  was  an  officer  gotten  up  regardless  of 


expense,  with  a  prodigious  feather  stuck  in  his 
cap,  whom  the  ladies  pronounced  a  "  perfect  love 
of  a  man."  He  did  the  circle  without  a  bounce, 


150  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

and  came  out  triumphant,  happy  fellow  !  After 
these  feats  of  horsemanship  were  over,  the  in 
fantry  marched  and  countermarched,  and  dis 
appeared  gradually,  towards  the  Eternal  City,  in 
much  dust  and  with  faint  music. 

On  Monday  we  drove  out  three  or  four  miles 
on  the  Campagna,  to  see  a  fox-hunt.  The 
'•'  meet "  was  at  "  Nero's  Villa,"  formerly  one  of 
the  residences  of  that  tyrant,  but  with  nothing 
now  left  to  show  its  grandeur  —  a  few  bits  of 
broken  wall  half  embedded  in  the  earth,  serve  to 
mark  the  spot,  and  that  is  all.  We  found  a  num 
ber  of  carriages  filled  with  ladies,  and  a  large 
assemblage  of  both  sexes  on  horseback ;  many  of 
the  gentlemen  gotten  up  after  the  manner  of  the 
English,  in  red  coats  and  top-boots,  which  made  a 
very  pretty  display  as  they  dashed  off  after  the 
fox,  which  they  soon  unearthed.  The  fox  being, 
like  most  of  his  race,  uncommonly  wide-awake, 
was  not  caught,  and  they  consequently  all  re 
turned  in  a  limp  condition  and  greatly  chop- 
fallen. 

Just  as  it  grew  dark  this  evening,  we  heard 
singularly  melancholy  music  in  front  of  the 
house,  and  going  to  the  window  saw,  passing 
below,  the  funeral  of  a  young  woman.  First  in 
the  procession  came  several  members  of  the  order 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  I  5  I 

called  Misericordia,  bearing  lighted  candles  and 
wearing  a  peculiar  hood  which  entirely  covers  the 
head  and  face,  having  only  holes  for  the  eyes; 
these  were  followed  by  a  long  train  of  monks ; 
then  came  the  body  lying  on  an  open  bier,  dressed 
in  white  and  decorated  with  flowers  —  she  looked 
like  a  very  beautiful  woman  asleep.  After  the 
corpse,  were  borne  two  common  pine  coffins  - 
one  marked  on  the  lid  with  a  large  black  cross, 
the  other  was  a  simple  rough  box.  They  moved 
slowly  down  the  street  chanting  —  a  sad,  pictur 
esque  sight. 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


ROME,  March  30. 

E  have  visited  the  Coliseum  by 
moonlight !  As  it  is  con 
sidered  dangerous  to  go  to 
such  places  after  dark,  we 
joined  a  party  of  friends, 
who  had  been  waiting,  like 
ourselves,  for  a  pleasant 
moonlight  evening.  After 
presenting  our  pass  to  the 
guard  at  the  entrance,  we 

were  joined  by  a  guide  with  a  torch,  who  led  us 
through  the  great  corridors  with  their  massive 
arches,  the  moonlight  falling  through  them  on 
the  stone  floor,  throwing  other  parts  into  intense 
shadow  and  mystery,  which  was  grand  and  dream 
like.  After  passing  about  half  way  round  the  im 
mense  building,  we  went  up  to  what  were  once 
the  seats,  from  which  we  looked  down  into  the 
vast  arena,  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  below. 
While  we  sat  thinking  of  the  horrible  scenes  of 
savage  cruelty  these  crumbling  walls  had  wit 
nessed,  the  hooting  of  the  owls  from  the  ivy  with 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  153 

which  the  ruins  are  covered,  was  the  only  sound 
which  broke  the  solemn  stillness  of  the  hour. 
From  our  elevated  position  the  scene  was  singu 
larly  impressive.  The  opposite  wall,  nearly  lost 
in  shadow,  rising  against  the  distant  Campagna 
which  faded  away  into  the  far-off  mountains,  and 
the  calm  moonlight  falling  upon  the  now  peaceful 
arena  and  flooding  with  light  the  Christian  em 
blem  which  rises  in  its  midst,  formed  a  striking 
contrast  to  the  barbarous  days  when  men  "  were 
butchered  to  make  a  Roman  holiday." 

Rome  is  the  only  place  where  you  can  procure 
models  without  difficulty,  that  is  to  say,  profes 
sional  posers.  They  are  peasants  who  come  from 
the  neighboring  villages,  to  sit  or  "  pose  "  for  the 
artists  in  their  national  costumes,  during  the 
winter ;  while,  in  the  summer,  they  are  engaged 
on  the  farms  and  roads,  as  laborers.  Some  of 
them  are  quite  handsome,  their  eyes  being  par 
ticularly  fine,  —  large  and  melting.  Stella,  the 
most  celebrated  of  them,  is  certainly  very  beauti 
ful,  and  has  a  little  boy  about  six  years  old,  who 
is  a  perfectly  fascinating  little  rascal.  My  model 
this  morning  was  a  little  girl,  whose  loveliness 
and  grace  of  movement  were  quite  charming. 
The  mother,  who  came  with  her,  bringing  her 
bambino  or  infant,  —  which  greatly  resembled  a 


154 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


grub,  its  whole  body  being  bound  from  the  waist 
down  with  a  white  bandage,  like  a  mummy,  the 
hands  alone  free,  —  seated  herself  upon  the  floor 


•?  '  ll  /  x-         \~-V>-     v 


to  sew,  and  rocked  her  bambino  upon  her   out 
stretched  legs ;    the  sandaled  feet  supporting  its 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  155 

head  while  she  plied  her  needle  ;  altogether  quite 
a  primitive  and  economical  style  of  cradle. 

Two  or  three  days  ago,  we  drove  to  Grotto 
Ferrata,  Albano,  and  Frascati,  to  attend  a  fair 
held  at  the  latter  place.  The  day  was  perfect ; 
the  air  balmy  and  soft,  birds  were  singing,  and  it 
was  a  delightful  sensation  to  leave  the  city  be 
hind  us  and  breathe  the  fresh  atmosphere  of  the 
country.  On  our  way,  we  passed  an  old  church 
standing  by  the  roadside,  far  out  on  the  Cam- 
pagna,  in  front  of  which,  kneeling  humbly  in  the 
dust,  were  several  peasants,  some  telling  their 
beads,  and  others  bent  in  earnest  prayer  to  the 
Madonna,  whose  image  was  seen  within :  some 
were  in  their  sheep-skin  jackets  with  sandals  on 
their  feet ;  others  in  long  blue  or  brown  cloaks, 
while  the  women  and  children  wore  upon  their 
heads  the  usual  folded  cloth.  I  thought  it  the 
most  touching  and  poetic  thing  I  had  seen  in 
Italy.  The  people  here,  you  know,  are  com 
pletely  under  the  power  of  the  priests,  and  have 
entire  faith,  which  made  the  scene  I  speak  of 
more  impressive,  for  they  were  sincere  in  their 
devotions. 

The  whole  road  between  Albano  and  Frascati 
was  alive  with  people  going  and  returning  from 
the  Fair ;  some  on  foot,  others  on  donkeys ;  many 


156  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

riding  double  on  the  smallest  of  animals  —  the  feet 
of  the  men  within  a  few  inches  of  the  ground  ; 
their  hats  decorated  with  ribbons,  feathers,  or 
flowers  purchased  at  the  fair.  Several  had  on 
three  or  four  hats,  one  on  top  of  the  other ;  an 
other,  a  live  pig  around  his  neck,  the  legs  held  in 
each  hand.  Some  had  donkeys  "  wot  wouldn't 
go,"  others,  donkeys  with  a  strong  propensity  to 
lie  down  and  roll  in  the  dust,  quite  regardless  of 
their  burdens.  Then  there  were  peasants  in  vari 
ous,  curious,  and  always  gay,  costumes  ;  people  of 
a  higher  class  in  carriages  or  on  horseback,  while, 
occasionally,  some  of  the  nobility,  in  vehicles 
drawn  by  four  horses,  on  which  sat  gay  postil 
lions  with  their  long  boots  and  short  embroidered 
jackets,  —  knowing  and  natty,  —  would  rattle 
past  us  at  a  brisk  trot,  the  beggars  following,  hat 
in  hand,  with  a  withered  leg  or  arm  held  up  to 
excite  compassion  ;  on  all  sides  noise,  dust,  and 
confusion.  The  fair  was  a  perfect  jam ;  the 
booths  on  each  side  of  the  street,  close  together, 
and  filled  with  everything  you  can  imagine.  The 
odors  were  strong  and  the  dirt  in  proportion ; 
nevertheless  we  enjoyed  the  novelty  of  the  scene 
immensely. 


WTTH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  157 


ROME,  April  7. 

r~\  N  Wednesday,  we  visited  the  Catacombs  — 
a  very  small  portion  of  them  —  with  a  party 
of  friends.  When  we  reached  the  entrance,  which 
was  in  an  open  field,  a  guide  approached  who 
provided  us  with  candles  ;  following  him,  we  de 
scended  a  few  steps  and  entered  this  mysterious 
resting-place  of  the  dead.  The  passages  through 
which  we  walked  are  only  wide  enough  for  one 
person  to  pass,  and  in  many  places  but  little 
higher  than  your  head.  On  both  sides  are  the 
cavities  which  were  dug  in  the  earth,  as  recep 
tacles  for  bodies,  one  above  the  other,  like  berths 
in  a  steamboat.  Some  still  contain  fragments  of 
marble  with  inscriptions  upon  them,  others,  heaps 
of  dust  and  bits  of  bone.  It  had  a  strange  effect 
as  I  looked  at  my  friends  in  advance,  whose 
figures  were  sometimes  half  lost  to  the  eye  as 
they  bobbed  their  heads  and  candles  into  a 
tomb,  with  the  hope  of  obtaining  some  precious 
morsel. 

Occasionally,  we  found  ourselves  in  small  apart 
ments,  large  enough  to  contain  a  number  of  per- 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 

sons,  which  are  supposed  to  have  been  places  of 
worship.  In  one  we  saw  two  sarcophagi  ;  one 
containing  only  a  skeleton,  while  in  the  other  was 
a  body,  wrapped  like  the  Egyptian  mummy, 
which  had  evidently  been  embalmed.  Some  of 
the  apartments  are  frescoed,  but,  with  all  due 
reverence  for  the  feeling  which  prompted  the 
decorations,  my  keen  sense  of  the  ludicrous  fully 
appreciated  the  grotesque  simplicity  of  some  of 
them,  more  especially  of  those  representing  the 
story  of  Jonah,  who,  on  one  side  of  the  room,  was 
being  pitched  overboard,  and  on  the  other,  bolted 
by  the  whale,  who  took  him  like  a  pill,  with  a 
very  wry  face,  and  evidently  did  not  relish  him. 
After  walking  for  some  time  through  these  dis 
mal  passages,  we  were  glad  to  return  to  fresh  air 
and  cheerful  daylight. 

This  morning,  we  went  to  the  American  chapel 

to  hear  the  Rev. .     As  the  room  in  which  he 

preached  was  crowded,  we  took  a  seat  in  the  en 
try.  Opposite  to  me  was  a  window  overlooking 
a  garden,  where,-  on  the  high  stone  wall  which 
divided  the  garden  from  its  neighbor,  was  seated 
a  monkey,  gravely  engaged  in  catching  fleas  and 
swallowing  the  same,  wisely  knowing  they  would 
never  get  out  of  that  to  trouble  him.  Below  him, 
on  the  grass,  were  two  turtles  and  a  comfortable 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  159 

looking  cat,  the  former  crawling  about  and  taking 
the  air,  with  that  cautious,  telescopic  movement 
of  the  head  peculiar  to  them,  and  with  a  sharp 
eye  to  the  movements  of  the  flea-catcher  on  the 
wall,  who  might  have  a  turn  for  turtles  as  well  as 
fleas.  I  found  it  difficult  to  keep  my  face  in  a 
quiet  condition  ;  the  gentleman  on  the  wall  didn't 
see  the  joke  at  all,  but  wore  a  profound  and 
searching  expression,  —  very  like  an  antiquated 
Frenchman, — passing  his  eye  from  his  body  to 
the  end  of  his  tail,  to  the  extremity  of  which  his 
enemies  appeared  to  retreat  before  jumping  off. 
It  was  certainly  very  improper  for  a  respectable 
monkey  to  be  engaged  in  that  kind  of  thing  on 
Sunday,  and,  perhaps,  equally  improper  for  me  to 
be  watching  the  operation,  but  —  it  was  irresis 
tible. 

As  we  were  returning,  one  day  last  week,  from 
a  drive  on  Monte  Pincio,  we  were  much  amused 
at  seeing  that  illustrious  King  of  the  Beggars, 
Beppo,  pushed  up  on  to  his  donkey  by  two  rag 
ged  little  urchins,  who  strained  and  tugged  to  get 
him  into  his  seat.  Fortunately  for  him,  his  de 
fective  legs  have  been  very  profitable  to  him, 
having,  among  other  things,  procured  him  the 
luxury  of  a  daily  ride  to  and  from  his  old  estab 
lished  post  on  the  Spanish  steps,  "  where  beggars 


i6o 


SKETCHES   ABROAD 


most  do  congregate."  He  was  banished  from 
here  a  few  years  ago,  for  throwing  one  of  his 
hand-shoes  at  a  lady,  who  mildly  suggested  that 

he  did  not  need 
charity,  but  he 
has  been  allowed 
to  return,  this 
winter,  for  two 
days  in  each 
week. 

This  afternoon, 
I  went  to  St 
Peter's  to  heai 
vespers  and  have 
a  last  look  at  the 
mighty  Church. 
I  stood  for  some 
time  opposite  the  bronze  figure  of  St.  Peter, 
which  is  seated  with  the  right  foot  advanced, 
watching  the  unceasing  process  of  kissing  its  toe ! 
Priests,  friars,  beggars,  ladies,  and  gentlemanly- 
looking  men,  all,  in  passing,  saluted  it ;  some  giv 
ing  it  a  wipe  with  the  cuff  of  a  coat  or  a  hand 
kerchief,  before  the  operation.  One  respectable 
father  held  up  a  large  family  of  small  children  to 
the  pious  toe,  when  they  all  flattened  their  noses 
on  it  in  succession  !  On  one  occasion,  we  saw 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  169 

of  Michael  Angelo,  which  stands  in  rather  a  nar 
row  street,  and  bears  upon  its  door  an  inscription 
to  the  effect  that  there  lived  the  "  divine  Michael 
Angelo,"  etc.,  etc.  We  ascended  a  flight  of  stairs 
and  entered,  first,  a  long,  narrow  room,  between 
the  front  windows  of  which  is  placed  a  marble 
statue  of  him  (life  size),  in  a  sitting  position  ;  a  very 
good  figure,  and  full  of  character.  On  each  side 
of  this,  painted  on  panels,  are  pictures  illustrating 
the  most  remarkable  scenes  and  events  in  the  life 
of  the  artist,  —  none  of  the  pictures  of  any  great 
merit.  The  next  apartment  was  his  dining-room ; 
beyond,  a  room  containing  many  of  his  original 
drawings  and  sketches,  made  for  his  finished 
works,  which  had,  as  you  may  suppose,  a  wonder 
ful  attraction  for  me ;  showing  the  manner  in 
which  he  thought  out  the  pictures  which  have 
made  him  immortal  and  filled  the  world  with  his 
name.  After  examining  these  for  some  time,  we 
passed  into  another  room,  on  the  right  side  of 
which  was  a  panel,  —  this,  on  being  pushed  aside 
by  the  guide,  disclosed  his  private  study  ;  a  room 
little  deeper  than  a  closet,  containing  a  desk 
with  a  bench  in  front  of  it,  —  the  light  admitted 
through  a  small  window  on  the  left.  On  the  desk 
lay  his  slippers,  and  above  it,  on  the  wall,  hung 
his  two  walking-sticks.  Of  course  I  sat  on  the 


1 70  SKETCHES   ABROAD 

bench  and  placed,  with  reverence,  my  elbows  on 
the  desk,  where  the  illustrious  elbows  of  the 
mighty  genius  had  so  often  rested.  The  only 
other  article  in  the  cabinet,  was  a  portrait  of  Vit- 
toria  Colonna,  to  whom,  history  says,  he  was 
greatly  attached  during  his  long  life.  The  next 
and  last  room  contained  a  large  number  of  his 
drawings  and  autograph  letters.  The  house, 
which  ever  since  his  death  has  been  occupied  by 
his  descendants,  has  little  of  its  original  character 
left,  having  been  modernized  for  the  comfort  of 
its  occupants. 

We  saw,  the  next  day,  at  the  Church  of  Santa 
Croce,  the  tombs  of  Michael  Angelo,  Dante,  Gali 
leo,  Alfieri,  and  Machiavelli.  On  Good  Friday, 
we  went  into  the  Church  of  the  Annunziata,  to 
hear  the  "  Miserere."  It  was  nearly  dusk  when 
we  entered,  and  the  priests  and  monks  were 
chanting  behind  the  altar,  in  front  of  which 
candles  were  burning.  In  a  few  moments,  the 
voices  ceased,  and  the  organ,  accompanied  by  a 
fine  band  of  wind  and  stringed  instruments,  too1^ 
up  the  air  whilst  all  the  lights,  but  one,  were  suc 
cessively  extinguished,  leaving  the  church  in  com 
parative  darkness  ;  when  again  the  voices  were 
heard  in  a  melancholy  wail,  gradually  fading  into 
silence.  All  was  in  keeping  with  the  sentiment 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 

of  the  music ;  the  grand  old  church  about  us,  lost 
in  the  gloom  of  approaching  night,  the  people 
kneeling  silently  around  with  bowed  heads  and 
clasped  hands  ;  some  telling  their  beads  and 
moving  their  lips  mechanically,  others,  appar 
ently,  praying  with  deep  devotion.  All  this  was, 
to  me,  touching  and  beautiful. 

In  contrast  to  this,  was  a  most  curious  and 
ridiculous  ceremony,  which  I  yesterday  witnessed, 
at  the  Duomo.  It  has  taken  place  for  the  last 
four  hundred  years,  and  has  never  failed  to  inter 
est  the  people.  There  stood  in  front  of  the 
church  an  immense,  black,  wooden  tower  about 
twenty-five  feet  high,  festooned  with  fire-works. 
On  the  top  were  four  dolphins,  heads  down  and 
tails  up,  supporting  a  huge  Catherine  wheel,  - 
about  the  size  of  that  of  a  cart,  —  placed  horizon 
tally.  This  tower  stood  on  wheels  and  was  drawn 
by  oxen.  From  the  centre  of  it,  came  a  rope 
about  as  thick  as  your  finger,  which  was  stretched 
tight  by  being  attached  to  the  altar  at  the  back  of 
the  church.  The  crowd  was  immense,  outside  as 
well  as  in.  While  we  stood,  fully  expecting  to 
see  a  lively  monk  or  priest  dance  a  measure  on 
the  tight-rope,  the  chanting  ceased,  a  frightful 
fizzing  and  spitting  commenced,  and  a  small, 
white  lump  of  something,  about  as  large  as  a 


172  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

man's  fist,  came  spinning  down  the  rope  from  the 
altar,  cracking  and  spitting  until  it  reached  the 
tower  outside,  where  an  awful  roar  and  general 
bursting  of  everything  immediately  took  place. 
The  Catherine  wheel  began  to  whirl,  throwing 
out  countless  stars,  the  crackers  popped  and 
banged,  the  rockets  shot  into  the  air,  rockets  shot 
down  to  the  earth,  great  guns  and  small  blazed 
away  from  all  parts  of  the  tower,  and,  in  a 
moment  after,  the  something  came  whizzing  back 
again  to  the  altar,  having  done  its  work.  I  was 
told  that  the  small  something  represented  the 
Dove  or  Holy  Ghost  !  and  the  fireworks,  the 
bursting  of  the  grain  in  the  coming  harvest,  aided 
by  the  Virgin,  who  was  supposed  to  be  in  the 
tower,  and  to  whom  the  peasants  pray  for  an 
abundant  harvest !  If  the  crackers  and  rockets 
should  fail  to  pop  and  fiz,  it  would  be  looked 
upon  as  an  unfavorable  sign,  and  bad  crops  would 
surely  follow !  Early  in  the  morning  of  the  day 
upon  which  this  performance  is  to  take  place,  a 
procession  goes  to  a  certain  church,  where  a  piece 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  is  kept,  from  which  to 
obtain  a  spark  to  light  the  Dove ;  being  limestone, 
a  match  is  adroitly  used,  which  more  easily  gives 
the  required  light,  but,  of  course,  the  people  are 
not  informed  of  the  human  means  employed. 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  1/3 

The  best  of  it  was,  that  not  a  smile  was  to  be 
seen  on  any  face  during  this  very  extraordinary 
exhibition ;  all  were  as  solemn  and  grave  as  pos 
sible, —  evidently  regarding  it  as  a  most  impor 
tant  affair, —  and,  upon  its  satisfactory  conclusion, 
quietly  dispersed  to  their  business,  for  it  was  pre 
cisely  12  A.  M.  when  the  Dove  started  from  the 
altar.  As  the  sun  was  shining  brightly  at  the 
time,  there  was  no  effect  whatever  from  the  fire 
works,  except  to  make  the  whole  affair  more  ab 
surd. 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


VENICE,  May  6. 

,ROM  Florence 
by  a  railroad 
which  crosses 
the  Appe- 
nines,  and  is 
a  marvelous 

piece  of  engineering,  —  dining  at  Bologna,  but 
not  on  sausages,  —  and  passing  through  Padua 
regretfully,  so  enticing  it  looked,  with  its  ancient 
towers  rising  against  the  evening  sky,  —  we  came 
to  Venice,  which  we  reached  soon  after  dark. 

As  we  approached  the  "  City  of  the  Sea,"  the 
effect  of  its  thousand  lights,  that  seemed  hovering 
in  mid-air,  their  bright  reflections  dropping  like 
streams  of  fire  into  the  water,  was  strange  and 
dream-like.  I  was  glad  to  leave  the  railway,  enter 
a  gondola,  —  which  is  so  perfectly  in  keeping 
with  the  romance  of  the  place,  —  and  float  rapidly 
away  from  the  noise  and  confusion  of  the  prosaic 
station.  With  the  gondoliers  standing,  one  at 
the  stern  and  the  other  at  the  bow,  pushing  their 
long  oars  before  them,  we  moved  silently  along 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  175 

from  light  into  darkness,  under  bridges,  past 
ancient  palaces,  which  rose  on  either  hand,  — 
the  melancholy  wrecks  of  former  splendor,  —  see 
ing  now,  a  solitary  figure  glide  slowly  across  a 
bridge,  then  lost  in  the  black  shadows  of  the 
narrow  street  beyond  ;  the  perfect  silence  only 
broken  by  the  warning  cries  of  the  gondoliers  as 
a  long,  hearse-like  object  suddenly  shot  across 
our  path,  —  the  gondola  of  some  night-wanderer 
like  ourselves.  And  thus,  on  and  on,  until  our 
attention  was  arrested  by  a  burst  of  light  from  an 
open  door-way  which,  our  gondolier  told  us,  was 
the  entrance  to  —  the  Victoria  Hotel  ! 

Daylight,  alas  !  soon  dispelled  the  fanciful  vis 
ions  of  the  night  before,  on  finding  ourselves  in  a 
house  surrounded  by  modern  comforts  and  en 
joying  a  breakfast  of  coffee,  toast,  eggs,  and  a 
fish  that  might  easily  have  been  hooked  out  of  the 
canal  from  our  window,  —  but  which,  I  fervently 
trust,  was  not.  After  having  done  justice  to  this 
sumptuous  feast,  we  sallied  forth  in  search  of  the 
interesting  and  picturesque. 

We  found  the  Piazza  of  St.  Mark  so  familiar  to 
us,  through  the  medium  of  engravings  and  photo 
graphs,  as  to  feel  by  no  means  a  stranger  to  it. 
There  was  the  grand  Cathedral,  with  its  brilliantly 
colored  fa9ade  and  once  gilded  domes ;  there,  the 


176  SKETCHES   ABROAD 

Ducal  Palace  with  its  famous  red  column?,  be 
tween  which,  it  is  said,  political  prisoners  were 
put  to  death  in  the  fourteenth  century.  There, 
also,  the  Clock  Tower  with  the  two  bronze  giants 
who  strike  each  hour  upon  a  huge  bell ;  and  the 
Campanile,  which  stands  alone  and  has  no  archi 
tectural  beauty,  but  from  the  top  of  which  we 
afterwards  had  a  fine  view  of  the  city. 

We  entered  the  Cathedral,  spent  some  time  in 
examining  its  beauties,  and  were  greatly  inter 
ested  in  its  peculiar  construction.  The  pavement, 
which  in  many  places  has  sunk,  is  now  so  very 
uneven  as  to  make  it  somewhat  difficult  to  walk 
on  it  without  stumbling.  Leaving  the  Cathedral, 
we  proceeded  to  the  Molo  to  seek  a  gondola  from 
those  usually  stationed  near  the  two  granite 
columns,  one  of  which  supports  the  Winged  Lion 
of  St.  Mark,  and  the  other  St.  Theodore  standing 
on  a  crocodile.  The  gondoliers  came  upon  us 
like  ravenous  wolves,  clamoring  for  a  "  fare  ;  "  we 
were,  however,  finally  taken  possession  of  by  an 
ancient  mariner  of  unexceptionable  manners,  who 
gallantly  handed  the  ladies  into  the  gondola,  and, 
after  I  had  placed  myself  beside  them,  pushed  out 
from  the  shore  and  we  soon  found  ourselves 
skimming  along  the  grand  canal.  As  we  passed 
them,  the  gondolier  told  us  the  names  of  many 


WITH  PEN  AND    PENCIL.  l6l 

this  figure,  —  which  is  said  to  have  been  once  a 
heathen  God,  and  it  certainly  looks  very  much 
like  it,  —  robed  in  rich  priestly  garments,  a  jew 
eled  mitre  adorning  the  head  and  an  enormous 
ring  upon  the  upraised  forefinger ! 

In  another  part  of  the  church,  there  was  a 
priest  in  a  confessional  box,  apparently  fishing, 
with  a  long  rod,  over  the  heads  of  some  four  or 
five  girls  and  boys  and  a  woman,  who  were  kneel 
ing  in  front  of  him,  on  the  marble  pavement.  I 
asked  the  friend  who  accompanied  me,  what  the 
priest  was  doing,  and  was  told  that  he  was  "  grant 
ing  the  family  absolution  !  "  He  dabbed  each  of 
them  on  the  head  with  a  backward  jerk,  as  if  he 
had  caught  a  new  saint  at  every  cast  of  his 
line. 


_•  i 


1 62  SKETCHES  ABROAD 


FLORENCE,  April  16. 

have  bidden  adieu  to  Rome,  and  with 
great  regret,  for  it  is  a  place  where,  the 
longer  you  stay,  the  more  you  become  attached  to 
it.  It  has  seemed  quite  homelike  to  us,  after 
three  months  of  comfort  there,  such  as  we  shall 
find  nowhere  else  until  we  reach  America.  The 
separation  was  a  sad  business  for  the  good  Car- 
mina,  who  had  a  moist  eye  for  days  before  we 
parted,  and  went  about  "  lamenting."  She  is  a 
tender-hearted  creature,  and  I  fear  we  "  ne'er  shall 
look  upon  her  like  again."  All  the  Italians  with 
whom  we  had  any  intercourse,  gave  us,  at  part 
ing,  the  kindly  and  musical  "  Addio,  Signori, 
buon  viaggio,"  which  is  the  custom  among  them, 
and  a  very  pretty  one.  Of  course  they  "  don't 
care  a  snap  "  for  you,  but  they  appear  to,  and  it  is 
a  pleasant  humbug.  We  have  lingered  so  long  in 
Rome  it  will  necessarily  shorten  our  stay  in  the 
other  Italian  cities,  and  indeed,  cause  us  to  omit 
altogether  several  which  we  had  hoped  to  have 
visited. 

The  grand  collections  of  pictures  here  are  a 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  163 

great  treat,  and  I  have  enjoyed  them  more  than 
any  in  Europe.  The  Uffizzi  Palace  has  a  very 
plain  exterior,  but  is  massive,  looking  more  like  a 
prison  than  a  palace,  which  is  the  general  char 
acter  of  the  palaces  of  Florence.  It  surrounds 
three  sides  of  a  large  court,  which  has  an  arcade 
adorned  with  statues  of  the  illustrious  poets  and 
painters  of  Italy.  Near  the  entrance  of  this 
court  is  the  Loggia  de'Lanzi,  where,  in  a  portico, 
are  statues  in  bronze  and  marble  by  John  of 
Bologna  and  Donatello,  also,  the  Perseus  of  Ben- 
venuto  Cellini.  Opposite,  is  the  Palazzo  Vecchio, 
-  a  quaint  old  structure,  in  front  of  which  stand 
a  colossal  statue  of  David  by  Michael  Angelo, 
and  a  group  by  Bandinelli  ;  there  is  also  a  foun 
tain  of  Neptune  by  Ammanati,  and  an  equestrian 
statue  of  Cosmo  I.  by  John  of  Bologna  —  all  of 
which  combined,  make  the  Piazza  della  Signoria 
a  very  interesting  spot. 

In  the  Uffizzi  Gallery,  there  is  an  immense  col 
lection  of  fine  works  from  every  school  of  art. 
Titian  is  there  in  great  strength,  splendid  in 
color,  though  weak  in  drawing,  as  he  frequently 
is.  His  "  Venus,"  which  hangs  in  the  Tribune, 
where  are  the  gems  of  the  collection,  is  the  finest 
piece  of  coloring  I  have  ever  seen  —  it  is  flesh 
itself —  and,  for  texture,  surface,  and  truth  of 


1 64  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

color,  it  is  beyond  anything  in  Europe  —  a  mar 
velous  imitation  of  nature.  The  picture,  as  a 
composition,  is  not  good  or  in  keeping  with  the 
subject ;  the  introduction  of  the  girl  and  woman 
at  a  clothes  chest  in  the  background,  is  as  com 
monplace  and  poor  as  possible,  and  the  kneeling 
girl,  a  mere  doll.  One  room  is  filled  with  por 
traits  of  artists  painted  by  themselves.  Among 
the  statues,  those  that  appeared  to  me  the  finest, 
"  were  "  The  Clapping  Fawn,"  "  The  Wrestlers," 
and  the  "  Venus  de  Medici,"  "  the  statue  which 
enchants  the  world."  The  group  of  the  "  Wres 
tlers  "  is  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  antiques.  The 
figures  writhe  together  on  the  ground  in  a  tangled 
knot,  with  the  utmost  grace,  energy,  and  truth  of 
action.  The  features  have  little  or  no  expression, 
which  hardly  agrees  with  the  great  muscular  ex 
ertion  of  the  figures  striving,  with  their  greatest 
force,  for  victory.  The  Greek  sculptors,  in  nearly 
all  their  works,  evidently  avoided  expressing  in 
tense  feeling  of  any  kind  through  the  features  ; 
their  love  of  the  beautiful,  probably,  causing  them 
to  think  that  the  human  face,  when  convulsed  by 
passion,  loses  its  beauty,  which  is  found  more  in 
repose.  It  was  certainly  not  for  want  of  ability, 
as  we  see  in  the  "  Laocoon,"  "  Niobe,"  and  the 
"  Dying  Gladiator,"  the  fullest  rendering  of  it. 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  165 

The  Pitti  Palace  is,  if  possible,  plainer  on  the 
outside  than  the  other,  but  possesses  rare  works 
by  the  mightiest  masters.  There,  among  other 
portraits,  is  one  of  himself  by  that  extraordinary 
Dutchman,  Rembrandt,  that  is  absolutely  beyond 
praise,  —  one  of  the  finest  things  in  the  col 
lection,  —  one  or  two  Vandykes  and  works  by 
Titian  that  are  remarkable.  Rubens  again,  pow 
erful  and  not  too  refined,  but  with  an  amazing 
force  of  color.  Between  the  two  palaces  is  a 
long,  covered  passage  which,  crossing  the  river 
Arno  over  the  Ponte  Vecchio,  enables  one  to  visit 
the  two  galleries  without  descending  to  the  street. 
It  is  filled  with  a  large  collection  of  sketches,  in 
chalk  or  ink,  by  the  great  masters,  —  principally 
of  Italy,  —  intensely  interesting  to  an  artist  or 
lover  of  art ;  a  place  where  he  may  study  the 
dawn  and  development  of  ideas  by  the  greatest 
minds  that  ever  devoted  themselves  to  art,  from 
dot  to  line,  from  line  to  form,  from  form  to 
thought ;  from  the  flash  of  the  first  crude  con 
ception  to  the  after  steps  cautiously  and  labori 
ously  advancing  to  a  perfect  whole. 

This  afternoon,  we  walked  to  the  Baptistery, 
the  Cathedral,  and  the  Campanile  of  Giotto,  and 
stood  in  the  street  gazing  up  at  them.  We 
paused  some  time  in  front  of  the  Gates  of  the 


1 66 


SKETCHES     ABROAD 


Baptistery,  which  are  exquisite  in  composition 
and  well  deserving  their  great  fame.  Entering 
the  Cathedral,  we  heard  a  monk  preaching  to  a 
large  crowd  of  people  under  a  canopy.  The 
vibration  of  his  voice,  heard  from  a  distant  part 
of  the  building,  sounded  like  the  hum  of  millions 
of  insects,  and  had  a  most  peculiar  effect.  .  .  . 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL. 


I67 


FLORENCE,  April  25. 

FEW  days  ago,  we  visited 
the  Church  of  San  Lorenzo, 
which  contains  two  of 
Michael  Angelo's  greatest 
works,  the  tombs  of  "  Lo 
renzo  de  Medici  "  and  "Guli- 
ano  de  Medici,"  both  of 
which  exhibit  —  as  most  of 
his  works  do  —  great  exag 
geration  of  form  and  action. 
The  sitting  figure  of  "  Lorenzo  de  Medici "  is 
exceedingly  fine  ;  it  has  a  melancholy,  brooding 
look,  that  is  wonderfully  impressive,  forcibly  re 
calling  those  admirable  lines  of  Rogers  — 

"  What  beneath  his   helm-like  bonnet  scowls  ? 
Is  it  a  face,  or  but  an  eyeless  skull  ? 
'Tis  lost  in  shade  ;  yet,  like  the  basilisk, 
It  fascinates,  and  is  intolerable." 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  sacristy,  stands  the 
tomb  of  Guliano,  very  similar  in  design,  but  less 
pleasing  than  the  other  ;  the  principal  figure 


1 68  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

being  forced  in  action,  with  a  prodigious  length 
of  neck  which  unites  badly  with  the  head.  It  is 
supposed  that  the  recumbent  figures  on  these 
tombs  were  intended  to  represent  Day  and  Night 
on  one,  and,  on  the  other,  the  Dawn  of  Life  and 
Death.  If  such  were  the  intention  of  the  artist, 
he  has  somewhat  obscurely  expressed  the  ideas, 
which  are  highly  poetic  in  themselves,  but  not  so 
rendered  by  him,  except,  partially,  in  the  female 
figures.  The  male  reclining  figures  simply  ex 
press  repose  in  most  constrained  and  uncomforta 
ble  attitudes.  These  groups  are  too  large  for  the 
sarcophagi  upon  which  they  rest,  and  I  should 
say  that  they  were  the  after-thought  of  an  uncon 
genial  mind.  After  studying  the  pure,  refined 
works  of  the  Greeks,  so  true  to  nature,  so  full  of 
dignity  without  effort,  and  of  exquisite  feeling  for 
form  and  proportion,  it  is  hard  to  entirely  relish, 
or  thoroughly  appreciate  the  peculiar  and  stupen 
dous  genius  of  Angelo,  whose  figures  seem  mostly 
weighed  down  and  oppressed  by  their  own  ex 
cessive  development  of  muscle.  The  unfinished 
group  in  the  same  room,  also  by  Angelo,  of  the 
u  Virgin  and  Child,"  is  a  grand  conception,  and 
has,  to  me,  much  more  of  the  truth  and  sim 
plicity  of  nature  than  the  others. 

From  the  church,  we  proceeded   to  the  house 


i  li 

ilip 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  177 

of  the  once  splendid  palaces,  which  are  now  de 
serted  by  their  owners,  and,  some  of  them,  con 
verted  into  storehouses  and  offices  ;  their  once 
frescoed  and  gilded  fronts  blotched  and  stained 
by  time  and  damp. 

When  the  sun  shines,  as  it  did  on  this  occa 
sion,  enough  color  yet  remains  to  lend  a  certain 
indescribable  charm  to  "  the  poor  remains  of 
beauty  still  admired."  But  alack !  alack  !  on  a 
rainy  day,  —  a  dismal,  drizzling,  rainy  day,  — 
nothing  could  be  more  utterly  wretched  and 
forlorn.  Our  bark  swept  rapidly  on  beneath  the 
broad  arch  of  the  Rialto  bridge,  your  romantic 
idea  of  which  will  be  speedily  put  to  flight,  when 
I  tell  you  that  it  is  conspicuous  for  the  green 
blinds  which  protect  its  shops  from  the  sun !  Out 
into  the  Lagoon,  and  returning  to  the  city,  we 
passed  through  the  Ghetto,  or  Jews'  Quarter,  and 
so  we  floated  about  until  we  finally  landed  at  the 
Academy  of  Fine  Arts.  Here,  among  the  finest 
works  of  the  Venetian  School,  is  Titian's  greatest 
picture,  the  "  Assumption,"  a  glorious  compo 
sition,  and  magnificent  in  color.  After  the  "  Ve 
nus,"  in  Florence,  and  the  "Assumption,"  I 
understand  why  Titian  is  called  a  great  painter. 
In  the  same  room,  is  Tintoretto's  "  Slave  de 
livered  by  St.  Mark,"  considered  his  best  work, 
23 


I78  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

—  a  picture  of  great  force,  but  not  equal  to  Ti 
tian's,  in  elevation  of  sentiment  or  splendor  of 
color.  There  are,  also,  here,  many  pictures  by 
Paul  Veronese,  which  we  had  no  time  to  examine, 
but  left  for  another  day. 

With  Columbus  in  advance  like  a  true  navi 
gator,  we  wander  through  the  narrow  streets  of 
this  remarkable  city,  —  streets  so  narrow  that  we 
are  obliged  to  walk  in  single  file,  —  and  submit 
blindly  to  his  guidance,  which,  however,  is  some 
times  at  fault,  as  we  occasionally  find  ourselves 
literally  at  the  "jumping-off  place,"  —  a  canal  at 
our  feet,  —  or  in  small  courts,  having  no  outlet 
but  the  alley  by  which  we  had  entered.  Wander 
ing  in  this  way,  one  day,  we  came  to  the  Rialto, 
where,  in  place  of  the  princely  "  merchants,"  a 
crowd  of  venders  of  fruits  and  small  wares  now 
fills  the  square.  We  crossed  the  bridge  and 
bought  some  trifling  souvenirs  of  Venice  from 
the  shops  which  line  it  on  either  side. 

We  have  visited  the  Ducal  Palace,  which  is 
truly  magnificent,  —  its  enormous  rooms  lined 
with  pictures  by  the  best  masters  of  the  Venetian 
School.  One  of  these,  by  Tintoretto,  said  to  be 
the  largest  in  the  world,  covers  the  whole  of  one 
end  of  the  Grand  Council  Chamber ;  the  subject 
is  Paradise,  but  it  is  so  much  injured  by  time, 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  179 

that  it  was  utterly  impossible  to  form  any  idea  of 
its  merit  as  a  work  of  art.  Ascending  a  staircase, 
we  came  to  the  apartment  in  which  met  the 
famous  Council  of  Ten,  also  the  Senate  Chamber, 
Chapel,  etc.  The  ceilings,  as  well  as  the  walls,  of 
all  these  noble  rooms,  are  covered  with  elaborate 
compositions,  many  of  them  by  Tintoretto  and 
Veronese,  —  some  of  the  latter  very  fine.  The 
"  Bocca  de  Leone,"  which  is  in  the  ante-chamber 
of  the  Hall  of  the  Council  of  Ten,  is  no  longer 
a  lions  mouth,  being  reduced  to  nothing  more 
than  a  very  commonplace,  post-office-like  open 
ing,  with  however,  the  iron  box,  which  once  re 
ceived  the  anonymous  denunciations,  still  in  its 
original  position.  Last  of  all,  we  descended  to 
the  dungeons.  We  entered  the  cell  in  which 
Marino  Faliero  was  confined  for  one  night  before 
his  execution  :  a  small,  stone  room,  about  twelve 
feet  by  eight,  having  a  stone  block  in  one  corner 
for  a  bed. 

The  Bridge  of  Sighs  has  two  windows  on 
each  side,  and  two  passages,  now  closed,  for 
merly  communicating  with  the  prison  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  canal.  In  a  narrow  entry, 
before  crossing  the  bridge,  are  the  remains  of  a 
beam,  where  the  prisoners  were  secretly  garoted 
and  their  bodies  slipped  through  a  small  door  on 


l8o  SKETCHES  ABROAD 

the  left,  into  a  boat,  which  lay  ready  to  receive 
them  in  the  canal  below. 

Wishing  to  view  the  renowned  Bridge  from 
without,  this  morning  we  took  a  gondola  and 
soon  were  moving  in  that  direction.  Beneath  it, 
opening  from  the  dungeons  of  the  Ducal  Palace, 
we  saw  a  massive,  rusty  door,  over  which,  of 
course,  we  shuddered,  and  imagined  the  suffer 
ings  of  the  unfortunate  wretches  who  might  have 
been  dragged,  dead  or  alive,  through  it.  The 
canal  is  gloomy  enough  to  have  been  the  scene 
of  many  a  foul  deed,  and  one  has  no  wish  to 
linger  on  it  long ;  so,  with  a  word  to  our  gondo 
lier,  we  glided  swiftly  toward  the  Grand  Canal, 
now  gay  with  barchettas  darting  about  in  every 
direction,  —  their  brightly  colored  canopies  flut 
tering  in  the  light  breeze, — mingled  with  funereal- 
looking  gondolas,  whose  steel  prows  glittered  in 
the  sunlight  as  they  passed  and  repassed.  We  vis 
ited  several  churches,  and  saw  pictures  by  Titian, 
and  acres  more  by  Tintoretto,  and  others  of 
less  note.  I  say  saw,  but,  in  most  cases,  we  only 
looked  at  them,  for  the  churches  are  so  dark,  the 
pictures  so  badly  hung,  and  often  half  concealed 
by  the  altars  and  their  decorations  placed  in  front 
of  them,  it  is  a  difficult  matter  to  see  them  at  all. 
Titian's  altar  piece,  in  the  church  of  the  Frari, 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL.  1 8 1 

called  the  Pala  del  Pesaro,  is  one  of  his  finest 
efforts  ;  the  composition  simple  and  grand  —  the 
figures  finely  disposed  and  possessing  great  dig 
nity  ;  that  of  St.  Peter,  majestic.  In  the  same 
church  is  a  very  large  and  elaborate  monument 
to  Titian,  and  another  to  Canova  ;  the  latter  a 
very  singular  design  representing  several  veiled 
and  weeping  figures  entering  a  pyramid.  The 
Peter  Martyr  of  Titian,  in  the  Church  of  Santi 
Giovanni  e  Paolo,  possesses,  perhaps,  the  highest 
reputation  of  any  of  his  works.  I  cannot  say 
that  it  moved  me  as  did  the  altar  piece.  The 
figures  seem  too  small  for  the  canvass  on  which 
they  are  painted,  and  too  much  importance  is 
given  to  the  background  which  rises  high  above 
their  heads  ;  neither  did  the  color  appear  to  me 
as  equal  to  that  of  some  of  his  other  pictures. 

This  city  is  singularly  fascinating,  but  the  eye 
feels  a  want  —  a  want  of  the  rich  and  gorgeous 
costumes  which  Titian  and  Giorgione  delighted 
to  paint,  and  which  are  associated  more  with 
Venice  than  any  other  of  the  Italian  cities. 

The  Venetians  of  to-day  seem  out  of  time  and 
place,  as  if  the  inhabitants  of  one  of  our  own 
towns  had  suddenly  taken  possession,  so  little 
does  their  plain  and  sombre  attire  harmonize 
with  the  splendor  of  the  architecture,  time-worn 


182 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


and  faded  though  it  be;  and  the  mind  is  op- 
pressed  with  sadness  at  witnessing  the  fallen 
grandeur  of  the  "  Queen  of  the  Sea." 


The  enclosed  sketch  is  of  a  Venetian  water 
carrier,  and  will  show  you  how  the  water  from 
the  wells  is  distributed  about  the  city. 


WITH  PEN  AND  PENCIL,  183 


PARIS,  June  17. 

T)  ACK  again  for  the  third  time,  in  Paris,  and 
-*-^  in  delightful  apartments  upon  the  Avenue 
des  Champs  Elysees.  After  leaving  Venice  we 
found  little  to  interest  us  in  Milan,  except  its 
magnificent  Cathedral,  Da  Vinci's  "  Last  Supper," 
and  some  other  fine  pictures.  The  Cathedral  is 
wonderfully  rich  and  delicate  in  design,  its  light 
and  airy  ornamentation  looking  like  frozen  lace. 
I  can  compare  it  to  nothing  else.  After  walking 
through  the  interior  with  its  splendid  columns, 
and  ancient,  stained  glass  windows,  we  ascended 
to  the  roof,  which  is  like  a  perfect  forest  of  marble 
pinnacles  and  statues.  From  it,  we  beheld  sev 
eral  of  the  Alpine  peaks,  which  looked  like  float 
ing  rose-colored  clouds  at  sunset.  The  heat  was 
so  great  we  were  glad  to  descend  and  return  to 
our  hotel. 

The  next  day  we  took  the  cars  for  Paris,  in 
tending  to  cross  Mount  Cenis  in  a  private  car 
riage,  which  we  were  to  take  at  Susa,  a  small 
village  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain.  We  reached 
it  about  midnight,  and  were  guided  to  the  inn,  — 


184 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


a  melancholy  looking  hole,  —  by  an  Italian  agent 
of  the  diligence  line  which  runs  from  that  point. 

We  found 
the  house 
shut  up  and 
apparently 
dese  rted  ; 
but  after 
ringing  at 
the  door,  it 
was  opened 
by  a  feeble 
andmostun- 
happy  look 
ing  French 
waiter,  of 
slight  frame 
and  general 
ly  woeful  as 
pect,  wear 
ing  little 
else  than  his 
drawers  and 
boots,  and 
holding  in 

his  hand  a  flickering  dip.     We  inquired  if  rooms 
could  be  had,  and  after  his  "  Oui,  Monsieur,"  we 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  185 

followed  him  upstairs  through  many  a  dark  and 
uncertain  passage,  poor  D—  -  expecting  a  brig 
and  at  every  turn.  At  length  we  reached  the 
much-desired  rooms,  which  we  found  destitute 
of  carpet,  with  rickety  chairs,  and  a  table  for  a 
wash-stand.  Here  again  we  paused,  with  the 
sad  waiter  and  his  solitary  candle,  his  eyes  half 
open,  and  his  hair* looking  very  much  like  a  bad 
hedge.  After  discussing  the  breakfast  hour,  and 
what  dainty  morsels  could  be  had  for  that  in 
teresting  meal,  we  patiently  retired  to  our  dens ; 
D—  -  piling  a  chest  of  drawers  and  all  the 
chairs  against  her  door,  in  order  to  keep  out  the 
"  brigands."  In  the  morning,  much  to  our  sur 
prise,  we  found  -ourselves  alive,  and  our  money 
and  watches  still  in  our  possession.  We.  imme 
diately  attacked  a  breakfast  of  wretched  ham  and 
worse  eggs,  which  we  found  it  impossible  to  eat, 
so  left  them  to  be  gobbled  up  by  a  small  boy, 
whom  I  caught,  some  minutes  after,  bolting  down 
the  eggs,  apparently  shells  and  all !  Our  trip 
over  the  mountain,  for  the.  first  four  hours,  was 
decidedly  uncomfortable  from  the  excessive  heat, 
but  improved  as  the  sun  lost  his  power.  The 
snow  in  some  places  was  quite  deep,  —  about 
four  feet  on  a  level ;  the  scenery  was  very  lovely 
and  often  grand. 


1 86 


SKETCHES  ABROAD 


We  passed  the  night  at  St.  Michel,  in  one  of 
the  dreariest  of  inns,  mounting  to  our  dormi 
tories  by  a  flight  of  dark,  stone  stairs  that  sug 
gested  a  thief  in  every  corner ;  and  resumed  our 
journey  at  half-past  four  o'clock  the  next  morn 
ing.  As  we  gradually 
left  the  mountains 
behind  us,  and  ap 
proached  the  more 
level  country,  we  were 
perfectly  charmed  with 
the  exquisite  beauty  of 
the  scenery,  the  morn 
ing  mists  floating  laz 
ily  along  the  valleys 
and  catching  the  light 
of  the  rising  sun. 
Even  at  that  early 
hour,  groups  of  pea 
sants  carrying  their 
implements  were 
cheerfully  trudging 
to  their  daily  labor,  in  their  rude  and  primitive 
costumes,  several  of  whom  I  immediately  intro 
duced  to  the  pages  of  my  sketch-book. 

Our     next    stopping-place    was     Dijon, --an 
ancient  town  originally  settled  by  the  Romans,  — 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  187 

the  remains  of  one  of  their  walls  still  to  be  seen. 
This  place  has  much  that  is  interesting ;  many 
of  the  public  buildings  dating  back  five  and  six 
hundred  years.  One  church  of  the  twelfth  cen 
tury  had,  upon  its  tower,  two  huge,  bronze  figures, 
which,  with  hammers,  struck  the  hours  upon  a 
great  bell,  much  after  the  manner  of  those  on  the 
Clock  Tower  in  Venice.  We  left  the  good  old 
town  about  eleven  A.  M.,  and  after  six  hours  of 
hard  travelling,  reached  Paris,  which  we  entered 
in  the  midst  of  a  heavy  storm. 

I  have  paid  two  visits  to  the  Great  Exposition, 
and  have  come  home  with  shattered  vertebrae  and 
burning  eyes.  It  is  an  endless  collection  of 
everything  produced  by  the  civilized  world  of  the 
present  day,  and  your  mind  staggers  at  the  mere 
attempt  to  take  it  in.  It  is  arranged  in  a  series 
of  circles,  or  ovals,  the  centre  being  a  garden  with 
fountains  playing  and  adorned  with  statuary. 

The  inner  oval  is  entirely  devoted  to  paintings, 
among  which,  I  was  sorry  to  find  the  American 
collection  occupying  so  small  a  space  ;  it  was, 
however,  very  creditable  to  our  artists.  The 
French,  Florentine,  and  Belgian  galleries  contain 
some  admirable  pictures  ;  with  the  English  I  was 
rather  disappointed,  most  of  the  pictures  being 
dry  and  chalky  in  color.  With  the  exception  of 


1 88  SKETCHES   ABROAD 

the  works  of  art,  I  was  more  interested  in  the 
grounds  than  anything  else.  The  customs,  dress, 
and  occupations  of  the  various  nations  repre 
sented  ;  people  of  different  Eastern  countries 
working  at  their  trades  ;  Arabs  riding  upon 
camels  ;  Egyptian  Temples,  Turkish  mosques, 
Arab  tents,  Swiss  dairies,  Russian  stables;  each 
country  represented  in  some  way,  and  ours  by 
a  wretched  country  school-house  of  the  simplest 
and  plainest  construction, — a  square  of  white 
paint  adorned  with  green  blinds  !  The  American 
restaurant  is  in  great  favor,  particularly  with  the 
French  and  Italians,  on  account  of  the  mixed 
drinks  for  which  we  are  distinguished ;  cream- 
soda-water  being  most  in  demand,  —  a  delicious 
invention,  fit  for  the  gods!  It  was  very  amusing 
to  observe  the  Frenchmen  sitting  in  a  row,  — 
some  reversed  upon  their  chairs,  their  glasses  to 
their  eyes,  —  deeply  interested  in  the  movements 
of  the  man  engaged  in  the  process  of  making 
"  sherry-cobblers,"  tossing  the  delicious  fluid  from 
one  vessel  into  another,  and  finishing  the  compo 
sition  by  placing  them  mouth  to  mouth,  with  a 
quick  upward  jerk. 

We  have  been  sitting  at  the  window  to-day, 
watching  the  people  go  to  the  Grand  Review 
in  the  Bois  de  Bologne,  which  took  place  in 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  1 89 

honor  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  who  is  now 
here.  The  avenue  has  been  perfectly  jammed 
with  carriages  and  people  for  six  or  eight  hours. 
The  crowd  was  tremendous.  Think  of  a  line  of 
carriages,  seven  abreast,  for  three  miles!  The 
nobility  appeared  in  their  splendid  equipages, 
with  from  four  to  six  horses  ridden  by  postilions 
in  brilliant  liveries  of  gayly-colored  velvet  and 
satin.  The  toilets  of  the  ladies  were  of  the  most 
elegant  description.  Prominent  among  the  dis 
tinguished  personages,  were  Louis  Napoleon  and 
his  Empress,  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  the  Crown- 
Prince  of  Prussia,  and  others.  The  sidewalks 
were  crowded  with  a  moving  mass  of  pleasure- 
seekers,  thousands  of  them  sitting  smoking  and 
drinking  coffee,  or  chatting  in  groups  in  front  of 
the  cafes,  which,  you  know,  is  a  French  custom. 
Whenever  the  carriage  of  some  celebrity  was  seen 
approaching,  they  would  jump  from  their  seats 
and  rush  to  the  curbstrne  to  get  as  near  as  possi 
ble  to  the  illustrious  stranger.  I  never  saw  so 
grand  a  mass  of  people  or  so  magnificent  a  dis 
play.  If  Paris  is  not  the  most  interesting  city  of 
Europe,  it  is  certainly  the  most  brilliant. 


1 90  SKETCHES  ABROAD 


LONDON,   June  22. 

left  Paris  on  Tuesday  night,  and  stopped 
one  night  on  our  way  here,  at  the  charm 
ing  old  city  of  Rouen,  with  whose  specimens  of 
rich  and  rare  architecture,  we  were  delighted. 
The  Cathedral,  the  Hall  of  Justice,  the  ancient 
Market  Place,  and  the  Ducal  Palace,  are  glorious 
old  "bits,"  most  elaborate  in  ornamentation,  fill 
ing  our  brains  with  pleasant  fancies  of  the  past. 
The  Fountain  of  La  Pucelle  was  exceedingly  in 
teresting  to  us,  on  account  of  the  historical  recol 
lections  associated  with  it ;  one  of  our  party  very 
prettily  observed,  that  it  seemed  to  be  ever  shed 
ding  tears  for  the  sad  fate  of  the  Fair  Maid  of 
Orleans.  We  left  Rouen,  with  regret,  for  Dieppe, 
where  we  took  the  steamer  and  crossed  the  chan 
nel  to  Newhaven,  a  passage  of  six  hours.  Poor 

J ,  as  usual,  with  many  others  on  board,  soon 

became  limp  and  pale.  In  the  midst  of  an  inter 
esting  conversation  with  me,  Dr.  R suddenly 

disappeared,  and  when  next  I  discovered  him,  he 
was  lying  in  a  flattened  condition  on  the  deck, 
his  very  sympathetic  wife  lying  close  beside  him. 


WITH  PEN  AND   PENCIL.  1QI 

The  face  of  one  old  gentleman  who  "  never  was 
sick,"  now  wore  a  flickering  smile  that  rapidly 
changed  "  from  grave  to  gay,  from  lively  to 
severe,"  strongly  suggesting  an  approaching 
squall.  Feeble  wives  collapsed  into  the  arms  of 
affectionate  husbands,  while  unprotected  females 
gathered  themselves  up  in  shawls  and  huddled 
together  under  umbrellas  to  protect  themselves 
from  the  dashing  spray.  A  weak  steward,  with 
pink  rims  to  his  eyes,  ran  about  the  deck  serving 
out  basins  (as  waiters  would  plates  at  a  dinner 
party),  or  brandy  and  soda  to  those  who  were 
"  not  quite  right."  That  benevolent  mariner 
soothed  the  failing  and  despondent,  and  raised 
the  flat  and  floppy  into  a  sitting  posture.  In  the 
cabin  things  were  no  better.  Wherever  the  eye 
rested  it  was  sure  to  fall  upon  some  pitiable  case 
of  suffering  humanity.  Here  an  utterly  prostrated 
individual  lay  outstretched  upon  the  very  dining- 
table,  there  another  sat  swaying  his  body  to  and 
fro,  clasping  his  aching  head  between  his  hands 
and  fairly  groaning  aloud :  every  available  piece 
of  furniture  had  been  taken  possession  of  by  the 
unhappy  victims  of  this  most  distressing  malady, 
while  a  second  edition  of  the  benevolent  mariner 
on  deck,  adroitly  managing  his  "  sea-legs,"  went 
from  one  to  the  other  bearing  remedial  agents. 


192 


SKETCHES  ABROAD. 


Among  the  passengers  were  two  very  unfeeling 
Americans,  who  actually  laughed  at  their  suffer 
ing  companions,  and  would  not  get  sick  to  oblige 
anybody,  but  who  were,  nevertheless,  very  glad 
to  reach  London,  which  they  found  chilly,  misty, 

and  damp 

And  now,  our  most  interesting  sojourn  in 
foreign  lands  is  rapidly  drawing  to  a  close ;  and, 
thoroughly  as  I  have  enjoyed  it,  I  shall  look  for 
ward,  with  intense  pleasure  to  the  first  sight  of 
my  native  land. 


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